


love is a losing game

by signsoflight



Series: adventures of the power geeks [1]
Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gay Trini (Power Rangers), The Rangers are such Bros, Trini (Power Rangers)-centric, Trini is kinda emo, Unrequited Love, mentioned Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-12 14:47:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11739267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/signsoflight/pseuds/signsoflight
Summary: Trini is in love with Kim.Kim isn't in love with Trini.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> apologies for any OCC-ness. this is also the shittiest thing i have ever written but oh well
> 
> come yell at me about power rangers and trimberly and literally anything else that you wanna yell about on tumblr. url: unhauntng
> 
> the first chapter is mainly a rewrite of the movie from trini's eyes but the next chapters will be more exciting

When Trini’s parents had walked into her room and announced that she needed to pack all her stuff up once again and that this time, the town that Trini had never even heard of that they were moving to was Angel Grove, she had assumed that her time there would like it had been for every other shit town in every other state that they had moved to - brief and lonely. 

She had become depressingly accustomed to shutting herself off from everyone and refusing to make any connections no matter where they moved. After all, they only ever stayed for a few months, a year or two max, so why bother? Trini was tired of her parents acting like every move was a new start, and they would all spend the rest of their lives in the town that had literally three other people living in it

Her parents were beginning to give up hope that she would ever let them in again and had lost all and any patience for her. Trini had accepted that she would always be a mystery to her parents as she was tired of always trying to conform to meet their expectations and requirements, only to disappoint them every time that she failed or wasn't good enough. It was too exhausting to pretend to be someone that she wasn't so she had resigned herself to their quiet and constant disappointment because she wasn't going to change herself anymore.

So, months passed in Angel Grove and Trini started preparing for the announcement that they would be moving again, packing their portable life into boxes and hauling ass across states yet again. But it never came. She spent ages on edge, waiting to start organising her stuff for the moving truck again but instead her dad came into her room one day, sat beside her on her bed and said, 

‘I know you’ve stopped trying to make friends because we are always moving, but I came to tell you that this is where we are going to stay for quite a while, so you should actually put effort in this time,’ After dropping that fucking bombshell on her, he proceeded to pat her on the head like she was some sort of dog or cat, before walking out of the room. 

Still, Trini refused to try to become friends with any of the stereotypical high school assholes in Angel Grove. She had always been an outsider and that wasn’t going to change just because this was where they were going to stay for a while. 

At least, she had refused to try up until Bill Cranston decided to blow up a fucking mountain 

\--

It had been a normal day, she had been doing her tai chi with, what her mother called her ‘devil music’, playing peacefully, just minding her own business before Golden Boy-Scout Jason Scott and his (new friend??) Billy Cranston started messing around with the cliffs below. She watched curiously as Cranston started setting charges but Scott walked away, making his way to Kimberly’s clearing - the clearing in the woods where Kimberly Hart always went diving off of cliffs. All of a sudden, there was a huge explosion, and Billy and some other guys were yelling and Jason Scott was shining a fucking torch around like he was asking to get caught. 

‘Hey! You guys looking to get busted or something? This place is a restricted area!’ she yelled at the idiots who just couldn’t figure out how to be subtle. Trini wasn’t about to let these dumbasses get her caught. She recognised the next guy who spoke as Zack Taylor, the idiot who spent all his time drinking on top of trailers and trains.

‘Oh, really, Einstein, restricted? As in we shouldn't be standing on crazy rocks doing karate moves, right? Yeah, I see you’ Trini scoffed at his accusatory words and yelled back,

‘Or camping out on old trains, I see you too!’ She vaguely registered Billy yelling something and Jason and Kim talking about who the fuck she could be as if she hadn’t been in their grade for over a year but her attention was soon drawn to something else that seemed a bit more urgent.

Beneath her feet, the mountain had begun to shake and was crumbling before her eyes, and she knew that if she didn’t move soon, she would probably be crushed and consequentially, killed, as it collapsed. But before she could move, the rocks started sliding and the mountain began to crumble. Next thing she knew, she was lying in a pile of rocks and feeling pretty bruised and battered but alright, considering the situation.

Then all of a sudden, the five of them, complete strangers up until then, were smashing open the strange glass together, in order to get to these weird looking coins and she found herself holding the yellow one and being transfixed. Next, there were headlights and security converging on them, so, suddenly, she was running, kind of vaguely aware of the fact that The Kimberly Hart was sprinting alongside her and they were then diving into Billy’s van and honestly, everything was a mess. 

The next day she woke up in her bed, with no recollection of getting home and the last thing she remembered was blinding headlights and the sound of them all being hit the train.

\--

The next three weeks were the weirdest of her life. The day after the train crash she somehow found herself standing in an alien spaceship with the other four teenagers that had been buried for 6 million years, along with some weird robot and a big face on the wall. For once, she thought that maybe her mom wasn’t so crazy to be getting her to take drug tests because there was no way that any of this could actually be real.

But her mom’s tests kept coming back negative and it wasn’t like Trini was drinking alcohol to the point of hallucination so the only conclusion was that she was either certifiably insane or this was actually happening. 

The following week and a half all seemed to roll into one mess of waking up, going to school, training, then collapsing at home, covered in a patchwork of bruises and scrapes, the only proof that Trini had that everything that was going on was actually real. There actually was some crazy alien woman trying to destroy the world and she was seriously one of the people ‘fated’ to stop her. 

At one point, her parents tried to talk to her, asking if she was part of some fight club or something. The idea was ridiculous, but she could see why they were concerned. She was a hostile person and she was coming home with cuts and bruises and black eyes and swollen, bleeding lips, and in some cases, limping or wearing a sling. So it wasn’t much of a stretch for them to think that she was getting involved in a shady part of Angel Grove, though she didn’t think that one existed. 

The weirdest thing happening in the town was the fact that there was a group of teenagers who went to the abandoned mines everyday to get beaten up by a robot in an alien ship. And even then, they were training to become superheroes, not villains or gangsters or any other kind of shady movie-bad-guy. So, actually, she was part of the equivalent of a bad side of Angel Grove. Huh. 

\--

Trini was slightly surprised to find that one of the strangest parts of becoming a Power Ranger, was that she was actually becoming friends with them. In the beginning, no one could deny that they were the strangest, unlikeliest of friends or teammates. 

For example, Trini had only ever caught sight of Zack at school once in the whole year that she had been in Angel Grove High and she certainly had never talked to him. The one time that she saw him was when he was skipping class and sitting on the bleachers once. Other than that, Trini had only ever seen a glimpse of him in the mines. She had never actually seen him being a proper student. Trini had doubts that the school even knew he was supposed to attend the school at all.

Kim and Trini had barely exchanged two words to each other, evident by fact that Kim had thought she was called DeeDee and was in her English class. She had noticed Kim though, because who wouldn't? The other girl had been the queen of the school, resting at the very top of the social ladder before it all came crashing down for her.

Billy had always been nice to her in the few interactions that they had, but Trini was determined to keep her head down and not make any friends so even her and Billy didn’t know each other. 

And Jason had been pretty much untouchable. Golden Boy of the town, star quarterback, most popular guy in school; Trini had been pretty sure that he didn’t know that she existed. 

But they were all forced together by the mystical power of some space coins and Trini didn’t seem to have much of a choice but accept that she was stuck with this new group of friends. After all, if the source of all life on Earth resided in Angel Grove and they were the people tasked with protecting said source of all life, didn’t that mean that the Power Rangers could never leave? Didn’t that make them bound to each other until they died? Destined to live and die in Angel Grove? But no one else was talking about that so she decided to avoid the subject as well. 

So, she had decided that she could accept being a superhero now, but the friends thing was taking a little getting used to. For example, she had definitely not expected to be added to some lame groupchat between the five of them. It was literally titled ‘power lamers’. Even they knew it was lame. 

But Trini found herself liking the banter and friendship that developed between her and these other four people who were no longer such strangers to her. And when she had asked that question around the campfire, asked if they were friends or Power Rangers when this all was over, she already knew the answer: they were both. They couldn’t be Power Rangers without being friends - all the constant training and contact with each other was bound to end up causing affection to grow. 

Another reason that she found herself becoming fond of the others was that when she said that she was going out with friends as an excuse for why she didn’t want to talk to her parents or spend any time at home, it wasn't a lie! There was the added bonus of the surprised and slightly constipated looking expression on her mom’s face when she saw that her daughter was getting a shit ton of messages from someone that wasn't her! And she was replying! And smiling! Groundbreaking!

But it was through this constant contact - either over messages, in training, class or hanging out in their free time, that Trini found herself developing an actual bond with people for the first time. Of course, they were all so different and nothing was perfect, but things were good considering that they had all only known each other for less than two weeks. They had all seemed to decide that they would ignore the conflict that arose in favour of getting as much training done as quickly as possible. 

There was also the fact that they would have a very long time to sort out their differences as they were all now bound to protect Angel Grove and the Zeo Crystal for the rest of their lives. She remembered the way that Alpha-5 had also explained the meaning of them being Power Rangers:

‘You should know,’ she recalled him saying, ‘that now you have taken the vow to protect the Zeo Crystal, you will no longer age physically,’

He had said it in such a matter of fact way, so blasé that he was surprised to see their shocked expressions. 

‘What do you mean?’ Jason had said slowly, looking like he was thinking. Or slightly constipated. One of the two. But she was gonna go with thinking.

Alpha had beeped a couple of time before shuffling round to look at them, and if a robot could look inquisitive then that was what he looked like.

‘I mean that you can be fatally wounded and you can die but excluding that, your bodies will not age and your Ranger healing will mean that most injuries won’t mean much. Your bodies are still human, they will break eventually but morphing protects you. Being Rangers means protecting the Zeo Crystal. Part of having the Power is having it forever. You will likely die at the age of 300, still looking like teenagers, in the line of duty. Although, Rangers have been known to live for thousands of years whilst protecting their Crystal,’

Trini had tried to wrap her head around that but judging from the expressions on the others’ faces, they were having as much trouble comprehending that they were now basically immortal as long as they didn’t die in a battle. As a group, they seemed to decide to ignore it and deal with Rita before they had a discussion about their apparent immortality. That was a bit much to process - she was focusing on defeating the apparent alien heading for Angel Grove first. 

But in the midst of the all the craziness happening, Trini realised that she was developing a very real and very different friendship with each of the other Rangers, but particularly Kimberly, and these friendships were the weirdest part of being an immortal superhero. 

There was something about the other girl that Trini found intriguing and she was drawn to her like a magnet. Being around her was when Trini was happiest and it was actually concerning how dependent she was becoming on the other girl.

For example, Kim and Trini starting going to get coffee at Krispy Kreme way too often for her mother not to starting getting even more suspicious, only giving more reason for her parent’s to suspect that she was somehow getting involved in something shady when really she was just bonding with her apparent fellow superhero for life. 

Totally normal, regular, teenage behaviour.

Absolutely nothing for her mom to worry about.

At all

\--

Everything continued in much of the same way, school until she wanted to die then training until she felt like she was dead. At least, that was until she woke up with water dripping on her face. Next thing she knew, she had claws at her throat, the points drawing blood from where they pressed into her skin, and she was backed up against a wall and being thrown around. 

It was only once she was alone in her room again, breathing fast that she tried to process the fact that Rita had literally just broken into her house, thrown her against the wall, sliced her skin open with her fucking talons, threatened her and everyone that she cared about and then disappeared like a fucking ghost. 

She had spent about ten minutes having a nervous breakdown, freaking out about the fact that the person who was about to destroy the world had just broken into her room and threatened her. Trini had begun to think that Zordon was simply paranoid or Alpha-5 had gotten the calculations wrong and Rita was nowhere near Angel Grove right now. But this had shaken her, showed her that the danger they were in was actually real and they surely had no chance of beating it

With shaking hands and gasping breaths, she had texted the others, saying that they had to meet at the football field right now.

chat with:  
[z-man], [kimberegg], [redrobin], [bcran] and [grumpygay]

power lamers

grumpygay: everyone meet at the football field. now

kimberegg: What’s going on?

grumpygay: just meet me there

grumpygay: all of you

bcran: Ok, see you there.

z-man: dude you need to give details next time

redrobin: Come on guys, just go

Soon enough, they had all gathered at the football field, the other Rangers looking expectantly at Trini and she felt her resolve to defeat Rita wane. The evil Green Ranger and literally just attacked her, broken into her fukcing home and threw her around her own room whilst her family slept in their rooms. It would have been so easy for Rita Repulsa to kill her entire family in that moment. How could she ask the Rangers to go up against someone like that? Someone who could destroy their entire town in order to get something that she wanted - and wouldn’t feel even a drop of remorse or guilt for the lives she took? 

As she looked at the faces of the four people that she had this strange, unbreakable, almost tangible connection with, regardless of their ability to morph, Trini wanted nothing more than to make them all board the next train or bus that left Angel Grove and stay the fuck away. Screw the Zeo Crystal and being a Power Ranger and Rita Repulsa and everything in this shit town. They didn’t need it, they just needed to leave - to be safe

But then Trini thought of her brothers. Her sweet little brothers, filled with so much innocence and belief and faith in the morality and fairness of the world. She thought of all the other children like her brothers, and then of their older brothers and sisters, willing to protect them at all cost. Then she thought of their parents and their love for their children. 

Trini realised that she couldn’t sacrifice the people of Angel Grove. It may be one of the worst towns in the world but it also hosted the source of all life on Earth. She could sacrifice the people of the world either. There was no way that Trini could let Rita lay a hand on that Crystal

Besides, the rest of the Rangers, especially boy-scout-Jason would never let Rita get away with it. None of them would ever walk away from what they had vowed to lay their lives down for to protect. And that was what made them such great Rangers. Almost all of them hated this town but they would never leave it. They would never let their personal feelings get in the way of their job - protecting the crystal and subsequently protecting the world. 

So Trini told them about Rita’s attack and the shock on her friends’ faces made it really sink in - what had actually happened and how lucky she was that she was even standing here, looking at the others. 

Then Jason proposed a vote of whether or not they should go after Rita now. Trini was normally someone who spent a lot of time thinking over something before they did it. That’s why she wasn’t going to jump off of the cliff with the others before they discovered the ship - she didn’t think that the potential gain outweighed the risk of jumping off of a fucking cliff. As far as she knew, she would have been jumping to her death. And even if she had survived, Trini would have been stuck down there with a bunch of kids she didn’t know and that wasn’t exactly a great situation to put yourself in. 

But when Jason asked them if they wanted to go after Rita right that second, she didn’t even hesitate for a second. She had thought about this on the way here and had reached the conclusion that there wasn’t anything else to do. Her hand was the first one in the air. As the rest of the Rangers made their decision, Trini quietly made an apology to her parents and her brothers in her head - an apology for all the things that she never told and an apology for all the moments that she might miss if this took a bad turn. Because being a Power Ranger was risky and there was no guarantee that this would go well. Rita had far more experience and she gaining power all the time. Their little rag-tag group of outsiders and rejects hadn’t even managed to morph yet, so realistically, they didn’t stand much of a chance against her. But they had to at least try to stop her.

\-- 

Later, when Trini stood in the spaceship, stinking of fish, dripping with water and with tear stains down her face, she regretted voting in favour. She had thought she had known the risks of going after Rita, but she hadn’t realised the possibility of the risks affecting someone else - of one of the other Rangers getting hurt or killed and it being her fault because she had decided this was a good fucking idea. She had managed to make some sort of peace with dying herself, but she had no idea how much it would hurt to lose one of her friends. 

Billy’s body was lying in the middle of the ship, sodden, heavy and limp, all traces of life gone. Jason stood in front of Zordon, demanding and pleading with the face in the wall in an empty voice that already knew that there was nothing to be done but refused to accept it. 

Kim sat on the metal staircase, her hair hanging in limp strings around her face as she buried her head in her hands in despair and grief. Her face was still covered in gashes and she looked deathly pale. And, although Trini knew that she should comfort her, although she wanted to comfort her, to wrap the taller Ranger in her arms and just let her cry, she felt so numb, like she couldn’t control her own body, and she ended up just standing and watching as Kim fell apart.

Zack stood behind Jason as he talked to Zordon as if he was providing some kind of back-up, but she could see that his hands were shaking and his eyes looked empty 

Seeing Billy die had made Trini realise that, when she had accepted her death before going after the ex-Green Ranger, she hadn’t thought of the fact that she had friends now. She had people that she had a good, healthy relationship with, instead of just a unhealthy one with her family that only made her miserable and her parents angry. 

She now had people who knew who she actually was and wanted to be, people who would miss that person. It made her rethink everything that she thought would happen if she died, and realise that she couldn’t be so blasé with her life. Now that it actually affected people, now that she had people who would miss her, she couldn’t afford to take as many risks as she thought she could. Additionally, if she was supposedly one of the people fated to save the world over and over, she couldn't just leave those people with a 4 person version of a 5 person team. She was necessary and needed. The Rangers would be just as incomplete without her as they were without Billy. 

Jason started giving some sort of speech in a shaky, grief-stricken voice, about how the loss of Billy was all his fault and how he never should have proposed going after Rita before they had morphed. Kimberly protested, saying that it was on all of them and they all should have been better to defeat Rita. But then Jason made the point about how Billy loved being a Ranger, loved all of them, and everyone fell silent, remembering all their moments together in the past few weeks. 

‘I’m sorry, Billy,’ Jason said, his voice full of bitterness and pain. ‘I’d trade my life for yours if I could,’ As he then moved to sit next to Billy’s body, Kim said,

‘Maybe he traded his life for us?’ 

Everyone looked at Zack as he gave a sort of broken laugh, ‘Yeah, he probably did,’ He was quiet for a second before looking at all of the others, standing up and proclaiming in a serious voice, ‘I would.’ As if there was no doubt in the matter, as if he wouldn’t even have to think about doing so for his friends. And Trini didn’t even doubt it. She knew that he would, just as she would for him

Kim sighed and then said, ‘Me too.’ with the same weight and feeling that Zack’s declaration

Trini then said, ‘Yeah, me too,’ in a quiet voice that seemed lackluster but she was really just shaken by the events of the night. 

In more of a whisper than anything else, Jason repeated their words, ‘Me too.’

They looked around at each other, recognizing the weight of the situation and everything that they had just realised. 

Kim sniffed and walked down the stairs from where she was standing. ‘It’s just the four of us now. The truth is, whatever we have said to each other, doesn't matter. This, this, is the only thing that matters.’ Jason nodded his head in agreement and Trini looked at Zack and said,

‘She’s right’. They all felt more connected than ever, but there was a noticeable hole where Billy would have said something. Of course, it would be Billy to bring them all together. Trini could help but wish that it had just happened a different way, that they didn’t have to lose Billy to truly become a team

But then, the ball of light and cosmic energy in the middle of the room started to crackle and move and suddenly the lights were flashing and the ship was shaking. Alpha-5 said something about the morphing grid opening, and that this was Zordon’s chance to return. They all stood, looking around in alarm but it wasn’t like they could do anything. 

And then she sort of heard Zordon saying some of his usual cryptic shit and Alpha-5 beeping, but she realised that , Billy’s body started to move. He spluttered water and then sat up, and looked around in confusion and Trini felt her heart soar with a sense of relief and happiness and joy that she had never felt before. She looked at Kim, who was next to her and saw her own disbelief and shock reflected in her face. They both then rushed to give him a hug, along with Zack, whilst Jason stood in shock, and Trini couldn’t quite believe that she could feel him moving and his heart beating and the warmth return to his skin. 

‘Did I die?’ Billy’s voice sounded curious and a little surprised, and Trini felt a grin make its way over her face. 

‘Yes,’ Trini said at the same time as Kim said, 

‘No,’ and then the two of them looked at each other in confusion before Zack amended them both

‘A little bit,’ 

Billy chuckled and the rest of the Rangers smiled, just happy to have Billy back and alive. They all gave him questioning looks when he said they needed to get to Krispy Kreme, but once they realised that he meant that it was the location of the Zeo Crystal and they needed to haul ass there to stop an evil alien from taking the literal source of all life on Earth.

However, just before they all stepped onto the morphing grid footprint things, Trini pulled Billy into another hug, knowing that he didn’t always like people touching him, but unable to stop herself. She was just about to pull away and apologise for acting so selfishly in a) putting him in a situation where he could be harmed and did get harmed and b) hugging him, when he tightened his grip around her and hugged her back. Trini smiled and buried her face into his torso, though not for long.

However glad to have him back she was, Billy still stank of rotten fish.

\--

The entire fight against Rita was a bit of a blur for Trini, she was kind of just making up everything as she went along when she was fighting. All she felt was this incredible anger, the intensity of which she had never felt before. She wanted to punish Rita for what the evil sorceress had done to her - Trini wasn’t just going to let someone else threaten her and make her feel afraid. After the battle though, it was like everything had been consumed by that anger, leaving her feeling shocked and kinda scared. 

She remembered brief moments of the battle, fighting putties, getting in her zord, crushing heat and panic - then the MegaZord and standing before Angel Grove, people snapping photos and cheering, whilst the Rangers just let it sink in - they had actually managed to defeat Rita and Goldar. Sure, they had almost died, but the important thing was that they hadn’t died. They had actually managed to win, albeit by bitch slapping Rita in to space. 

People later talked about the Power Rangers, and Trini saw on that the news had dedicated almost the whole day to them the day after the attack. Although it was mainly just the same information phrased a million different ways because no one knew anything about the ‘mysterious heroes of Angel Grove’. 

Trini did remember texting back and forth with Kim quite a lot about how ridiculous it was that all the Rangers were assumed to be male. Seriously though, Trini and Kim had the most stereotypically feminine colours out of all the Rangers - yellow and pink were not exactly masculine colours but as soon as superheroes were seen wearing the colours, said heroes obviously had to be male. Because the entirety of society would collapse if there was a female hero. People had no idea that their’ saviours’ were all teenagers and two of them were girls. 

School was weird after the attack, because obviously they all still had to go because the town authorities weren’t just going to let a little monster terrorising everyone and smashing up most of the school stop them from ‘educating’.

No one took any more notice of them than normal - it wasn’t like people knew that the strange friendship group who had all started hanging out really suddenly, were the same people who had just saved the entire town and the world.

Well, people still took notice of them, as after all they were comprised of a loser who talked to no one, a guy who pretty much was never at school and had a bit of a bad reputation, the previous two most popular people in the entire school, and a guy who had been bullied for most of his life. So them all suddenly becoming friends was bound to draw a few looks, but excluding the torment of Kim’s ex cheerleader friends, they were pretty much left alone.

Though Trini still got detention for ripping off Kim’s locker when Amanda and co. wrote all over it. 

And Zack got detention for persistent truancy from school.

But in reality that just gave the five of them more time to hang out, which was perfectly ok with them.


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> again, apologies for any OCC-ness
> 
> tumblr: unhauntng

Trini grumbled under her breath as she carefully and painstakingly re-arranged the placing of her favourite yellow beanie on her head. Well, honestly, it was her second favourite yellow beanie because the one which held the top spot had been stolen by Kim. The same person who was now holding the door to the doughnut shop they had been hanging around since the downfall of Angel Grove’s Krispy Kreme.

She murmured some semblance of a thank you as she walked through the door, the other girl laughing at her early morning grumpiness.

‘Go sit down, Trin, you look like you’re about to drop dead. I will get the order.’ She sent Kim a look of appreciation before slumping down on one of the leather sofas and leaning her head against the wall with her eyes firmly shut as she wondered why the fuck Saturday detention had to be so early. Surely it was enough that they were all coming into school on their Saturday at all, so why did the torture have to start at the crack of fucking dawn?

Trini only moved from her position against the wall once she heard Kim approaching, and she still only held out her hand, waiting for her coffee. Since her eyes were closed, she didn’t see the other girl’s reaction, but she heard her laugh then had a sudden source of heat deposited in her waiting hand.

She opened her eyes and at once tore the plastic lid off of her disposable cup of coffee and chugged the whole thing as fast as humanly possible. Due to the fact that this happened literally every Saturday morning, Kim wasn’t surprised at Trini’s melodramatic tendencies anymore but was still mildly impressed that she could down black coffee that quickly.

Once Kim had finished her own coffee, having drunk it at a regular pace, the two set off for the high school, both with a small paper ‘to go’ bag of doughnuts, much to the jealousy of the three boys when they arrived.

‘Oh come on, guys!’ Jason groaned in protest. ‘How did you have time to get food?’

‘Scott,’ Trini began, her voice serious, ‘If I’m coming to this hell, there’s no way that I am doing it without coffee and food. Plus we just had time this morning.’

‘Bullshit,’ Zack scoffed, disbelievingly. ‘You guys do this every week. And you never bring us any’

After thinking about it for a moment, Kim replied, ‘Yeah, we do this every week. Looks like you’re just idiots. Get your own food, losers,’ Then the two of them walked off into the classroom, feeling badass as fuck, though the image was slightly ruined by Kim having to stifle her giggles at Zack’s face when she said that to him. The pure outrage was hilarious.

Once all those who had been condemned to life in detention had taken their seats and the session had finally started, the Rangers began their usual method of passing notes, which was flinging them at high speeds towards each other’s heads, as all responsible teens working on improving their behaviour did. Everything was going like every other monotonous Saturday detention until Kim sent a certain note towards her.

Hey Trin, have you noticed how cute Jason looks today!?!? :0

For some reason or another, she felt a nauseating feeling settle into her gut as she read the pink words (Kim had a habit of using her ranger colour to write with, as did Billy, whilst Trini didn’t have the option because yellow ink doesn't fucking show up, Zack) but she dismissed it as inconsequential and unimportant. 

no. im gay

Trini watched out of the corner as her eye as Kim chuckled silently when she read the reply that she had flung at her head. This continued for a while, Kim gushing to her about the feelings that she now had for their fellow Ranger, feelings that Trini hadn’t seen hide nor tail of before, but whatever. She still couldn’t figure out why she felt so off about the whole thing, but, again, she let it go and hoped that it would solve itself.

And it certainly wasn’t until later, when Trini was lying in her gloomy room in the night darkness, that the realisation suddenly dawned on her: the meaning of all the little things that she had felt in her chest when Kim wore particularly tight fitting things for training. Or when she grabbed her hand and then just decided to not let go, making Trini’s heart beat erratically. Or when Kim crept through the window in the middle of the night and slept curled against her side, causing Trini to sleep better than she had ever done before.

She was in love with Kimberly Hart.

Well, shit.

—

So, after that everything had been ‘good’, Trini was just chilling, ya know, being completely in love with someone who didn’t feel the same and slightly dying because of it but still dealing with the fact that as soon as she realised that she was liked her, Kim had started confiding in her about her feelings for Jason and how ‘his eyes are oh so dreamy’ and ‘he’s so sweet!’ And that was the first sign that Trini had to abort mission because this was a fucking problem.

This gushing about their team leader was an obvious sign that Kim was the opposite of interested in her, and Trini couldn’t help but feel her heart break a little at that. And that was nothing compared to the way that she felt when she first saw them after the two of them officially got together

Not that she hadn’t been in trouble before, as falling in love with your best friend and superhero teammate normally means, but Trini knew she was screwed for sure when her heart started breaking in the middle of the fucking school cafeteria of all places. All because Kimberly was being disgustingly cute with her new ‘perfect match’ of a boyfriend. It was all that she could do to not be physically sick on the grimy and germy table. The loud chatter and laughter from the other students did nothing to distract her from the couple before her.

‘Trini?!’ She was suddenly snapped from her thoughts by someone calling out her name and found herself looking at Zack’s face, filled with concern. ‘You ok, bro?’

‘Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.’ Trini nodded and swallowed hard as she looked down at her food, pushing it around the plate with her fork, although the stuff that the cafeteria served couldn’t really be considered food as it wasn’t truly edible. Most days, she found herself jealous of Billy’s packed lunch from home and did not appreciate the smug look that he wore every time that he brought it out of his backpack to groans from the rest of the group.

Though, being fair to Billy, he always offered the Rangers some of the stuff he brought, claiming that his mom knew how bad the food at school was and always packed extra for anyone who needed something.

‘You’ve barely eaten any of your food. You sure you’re ok?’ Jason’s voice was laced with genuine worry and his face was one of concern, but that did nothing to stop the surge of annoyance that rushed through her veins though Trini appreciated that he had no idea why she felt that.

‘I said I’m fine, Jase.’ She said in a controlled voice, still not meeting anyone’s eyes, hating herself for feeling such anger towards Jason of all people, one of the best people in the world. ‘I just didn’t sleep well last night,’ Trini watched as the realisation dawned on the rest of the group and felt satisfied as the conversation turned back to Billy’s latest experiment. But Kim was still looking at Trini with those sad, brown, puppy dog eyes that just made any resolve she had melt and Trini simply couldn’t bear it.

Because how was she not supposed to fall in love with someone like Kim? She was the only people that Trini could openly talk to about her problems and she felt closer to her than to anyone else she had ever known. She was often the best part of her day and every moment spent with her was brighter than any other.

‘You know you can always come to my house if you’re having trouble sleeping in your room?’ Kim told her in a low voice, leaning over their lunch trays to ensure that the boys couldn’t catch what she had said.

‘Yeah, I know. Thanks.’ Trini sent Kim a weak smile and was eternally thankful that the other girl let the subject drop after that.

—

chat with:  
[z-man] and [grumpygay]

cracking a cold one open with a Bro

z-man: im not going to english if you wanna meet under the bleachers as usual

grumpygay: im already on my way

z-man: noice

The faint noise of the shrill school bell warranted no reaction from Trini or Zack as they lounged in the shade under the bleachers, glad that the teachers had no way of seeing them out here from the school. The silence had been amicable between the two of them, then Zack began talking about whatever had needed him to meet Trini instead of going to class.

‘My mom’s condition is getting worse.’ He said in a soft voice, looking down as he wrung his hands together. Trini let that hang for a second, thinking of a reply, before settling for,

‘That sucks man, let me know if there is anything I can do to help either of you. I’m here if you need me.’

Zack’s eyes held such gratitude and appreciation in that moment that Trini found herself with a lump in her throat making it hard to swallow and a need to look away. She still wasn’t used to being looked at like that by anyone. Anything other than vague annoyance, hurt or indifference towards her had become foreign.

It was a while before he spoke again.

‘Thank you, Trini.’

‘No problem, bro.’

Again, there was another comfortable silence between the two of them, at least until Zack turned to Trini again and said, plainly and simply,

‘How are you handling Kim being with Jason?’

Her eyes shot wide open and the mess of stammering and stuttering that followed was in no way subtle and were not at all convincing that she didn’t have feelings for Kim. However, that didn’t stop her from saying, ‘What do you mean?’ in a voice of faux innocence and confusion

Zack simply fixed her with a look of disbelief

‘Ok, fine. So I like Kim. Big deal, I can handle it.’ the boy nodded and decided not to say any more about the subject and no more words were exchanged for the rest of their skipped period as the two of them sat underneath the metal bleachers staring up at the afternoon January sky.

Of course, combining the skipping classes, and the realisation that none of her work would be completed in biology class ever again due to Kimberly’s very distracting presence, her grades began to slip. And that brought down the wrath of Ms Gomez herself. So it wasn’t long before Trini found herself grounded every night, studying in her room.

This brought about the end of the transition period for Trini. She stopped letting this development between Kim and Jason affect her life and to everyone else, things went back to whatever normal was for a group of superhero teenagers with alien powers.

But Trini should’ve known nothing good can last, and certainly not when she’s involved.

—

The night was dark and calm, just the moon hanging in the sky and the stars twinkling, and Trini was sleeping up until she woke with a jolt and sat straight up in her bed, a sheen of cold sweat covering her body. She clutched the bed sheets, white knuckled and tense, and waited for the feeling of immobilising fear and panic to pass, her heavy, stressed breathing was the only sound in the room as she waited. The sound of a text alert from her phone broke the silence in the room and made her heart skip a beat with shock.

Trini blinked, adjusting to the light, as the phone screen glowed harshly in the darkness, and she scrolled through the new messages from the Rangers group chat.

chat with:  
[z-man], [kimberegg], [redrobin], [bcran] and [grumpygay]

power lamers

z-man: i can feel my heart racing and i feel super panicked. is every1 ok?

kimberegg: I’m alright but I felt the same things that you did.

z-man: j?

redrobin: I’m fine. Wasn’t me.

z-man: blue?

bcran: I’m alright, Zack. I guess it must have been Trini, then.

kimberegg: Trini, are you ok?

z-man: t?

grumpygay: ya know, sometimes i hate ranger senses

grumpygay: i’m fine. just had a nightmare. that’s all.

 

chat with:  
[kimberegg] and [grumpygay]

pink lemonade

 

kimberegg: Trini should i come over?

grumpygay: shouldn’t you sleep??

kimberegg: I would sleep better knowing that you’re ok

grumpygay: then sure. i probably won’t sleep either way.

kimberegg: Wow, way to make me feel appreciated, Trini

 

It wasn’t long before there came a soft tapping at the window. Whilst she knew that it was Kim, every part of Trini was telling her that it was Rita, coming back to kill her and everyone that she cared about. So she grabbed the nearest object, her fingers wrapping around the grip of a softball bat that was leaning against the wall by the window and slowing opened the curtains. On the ground below was Kimberly, clad only in a thin jacket and pyjamas in the cold January night.

Unable to prevent her heart from soaring slightly with joy, even in the current situation, Trini opened the window and stepped back to allow Kim space to clamber through into her bedroom. Eventually, the other girl was standing there, grinning at her shorter friend, not surprised to be receiving a grumpy look in return.

Trini looked Kim up and down with a deadpan expression before saying, ‘You know it’s the middle of winter, right? Just because you are a Ranger but that doesn’t mean you can’t get hypothermia.’

‘I love you too, Trin,’

Trini decided to stubbornly ignore the way that her heart jumped at that and how her lips wanted to break into the biggest grin they could manage, instead deciding to make her way back to bed and clamber in.

Kim made it apparent that would stay standing by the window awkwardly unless she said something, Trini mumbled, ‘Come on, Hart, you came all the way over here. Don’t just stand there all night. You may be tall but you’re not a tree.’

Kim laughed and followed her instructions, walking over to Trini’s small bed and getting in beside the other girl, curling up into her side. Trini’s shiver as Kim’s cold feet came into contact with her legs wasn’t from the chill but she tried to play it off smoothly.

‘Jesus, Kim, didn’t you wear shoes? Get your freezing feet the fuck away from me.’ The only response to this was the feet pressing harder into her leg and Trini couldn’t deny that some part of her was mildly pleased with the result.

Though she was expecting to end up being awake throughout the rest of the night, Trini was pleasantly surprised to find herself gradually falling into a blissfully dreamless sleep due to the other girl’s calm presence by her side.

—

Early morning sunlight streamed through Trini’s window, the curtains still open from Kim’s entrance last night. The light blinded her as she opened her eyes, and as she slowly realised what the strange weight on her limbs and the dip in her bed was from, Trini froze. She found herself caught off guard by the sight of a sleeping Kim curled into her side, hair messy and her face peaceful and unguarded, free of the pain that she had when she was awake. She definitely wasn’t expecting to wake up to the girl she was in love with asleep in her bed, let alone with her limbs intertwined with Trini’s own. It was like Kim was using every excuse to make Trini’s heart skip enough beats that it would be seriously detrimental to her health.

After a second (or maybe more but no one can prove that) of staring at Kim, Trini suddenly remembered the fact that her mom was incredibly nosy and also, quite shockingly, unaware that her daughter was gay. Walking into another girl wrapped around Trini probably wouldn’t be a good way to break it to her. She listened carefully for any sign of her mother’s approach, but thankfully, didn’t hear any creaking floorboards or any other signal that anyone was coming near her room.

‘Kim!’ she hissed, shaking the other girl’s arm, knowing that the other girl needed to get out now or else they were screwed. However, the only response that she received was a mumble and a groan as Kim rolled over. Which was not helpful. But very cute.

Eventually, Kim woke up once Trini resulted to tickling her, and she flailed her arms for a while before fixing Trini with a betrayed and hurt look.

‘You gotta hide,’ She said in a low voice, and when Kim only looked confused, she continued, ‘Dude, my mom!’

A look of understanding crossed Kim’s face, and she nodded before moving to get out of the bed and hide, but in the midst of her flailing, the duvet had become tangled around her legs and she only ended up falling straight onto her face on the ground. Trini shook her head comically in disbelief but failed when she heard her mom call from downstairs

‘Trini? Was that you?’

‘Shit, shit, shit. Kim, you gotta go right now’ She hissed at the girl on the floor, who then decided to literally dive out of the window. Trini didn’t have time to freak out about that because she heard the floorboards outside her bedroom door creak. She shot out bed and shouted,

‘I’m fine, mom.’

The only response was a sigh and the sound of footsteps retreating and making their way back down the stairs. She breathed a sigh of relief, waiting for her heart to stop beating so rapidly, then rushed over to the window to check that Kim hadn’t freaking died. After seeing that there was no sign that the other girl had even been near her house, Trini picked up her phone from the nightstand.

 

chat with:  
[kimberegg] and [grumpygay]

pink lemonade

 

grumpygay: why the fuk do you gotta be so impulsive, hart??

kimberegg: I’m a freaking power ranger Trin. I’m fine. Didn’t even graze my knee so haha. I win

grumpygay: and you didn’t get seen?

kimberegg: Are you doubting my sneaking abilities, Gomez?? Do you dare question them??

grumpygay: yes that is literally exactly what i’m doing. please learn to read

grumpygay: did you get seen or not? answer the question hart

kimberegg: No.

kimberegg: And don’t think that I am not making note of your lack of faith in me!

grumpygay: of course you are

grumpygay: see you in bio.

kimberegg: Bye, Trin!!!!

She would never admit it, but Trini cracked a grin (one that only Kimberly could ever produce) as she locked her phone again and pocketed it, before grabbing her bag and heading down the stairs and out of the front door, leaving her family disappointed at the empty seat she left at the breakfast table

—

The sound of students’ chatter, footsteps on the hard floor and slamming locker doors filled the high school halls as Trini stared into the depths of her locker, wondering how the fuck she had managed to lose her biology textbook again. Suddenly, the noise that a body made as it collided with a locker filled the air and Trini looked around in shock only to find Zack grinning at her whilst leaning next to her and that the noise had only been a product of his dramatics.

‘Do you, like, ever calm down?’ Trini asked in a deadpan voice, her mind back on where the fuck she could have left her textbook, and horrifying images of Alpha-5 flipping through pages about reproduction were all that she could think of.

‘No, I don’t. And you should know that!’ Zack replied.

‘Believe me, I do,’ Trini gave a long suffering sigh that wasn’t even that dramatic considering that it was Zack that she was reacting to, and everyone, even people who had never really met him, knew that the most extra person ever. Suffice to say, that he had gained a reputation and becoming sudden friends with the two kids who had been dramatically cast out of the cult of the popular and two other kids who may not have existed at the school if not to stand out, had not exactly decreased how strange their group was to literally any outsider. And to Trini sometimes.

‘Hey Trin, what’s with the pained expression?’

‘I forgot my bio textbook.’

‘Don’t you have the bio teacher who gives students detention for forgetting their books?’

‘Yep,’ The pure amount of hopelessness and despair that Trini managed to express in that one word somehow had the ability to cause Zack to burst into peals of laughter that was not able to be silenced by either the glares from surrounding students or from Trini’s death glare.

‘Good luck,’ Zack managed to get out eventually, before patting her on the head and striding down the hall, still chuckling to himself.

‘Fucker,’ Trini muttered to herself before another person took his place leaning on the locker. She looked at Kim and smiled, before asking,

‘And how did you sleep, Princess? Your face looks a little bashed, any reason?’ in an innocent voice that earned her a playful glare from the taller girl, one that definitely did not cause Trini’s heart to beat just that much fast and her breath to catch. Absolutely not.

‘My nose is fine, thanks for asking. It’s just my pride that is bruised,’ Kim sniffed dramatically at this as Trini scoffed and turned back to her locker as she said,

‘Like you have any pride at this point, Hart. You and Jason watch “Say Yes to The Dress” regularly.’

Ignoring the dig at her TV watching habits, Kim asked, ‘How have you been sleeping lately, Trini?’ in a surprisingly serious voice that causes her heart to sink as she sensed the approaching conversation was one that she had been working to avoid for as long as possible.

‘You were there last night. I was fine once you came over.’ She replied with a steady voice, avoiding the question and praying that Kim would just let it go, but to no avail.

‘This isn’t about last night, Trini. It’s about the last couple of weeks.’

‘I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.’ Trini made to walk past her but she pushed her back.

‘Don’t skirt the question. I’m worried because that isn’t the first time I’ve felt that panic in the middle of the night. It’s not even a rare feeling anymore. How often are you getting nightmares? And if you don’t want to discuss the matter with me, which I understand, how else can I help?’

Trini looked Kim in the eyes and said in a serious tone of voice,

‘I get nightmares all the time. About so many things. There’s nothing you can do to help me.’

‘You’re not alone, Trini,’ Kim’s voice took on a pleading undertone like she was asking Trini to cooperate, to open up properly for once instead of pushing away everyone like she normally did.

‘I know.’ She said simply, hating the look on Kim’s face but hating opening up about her problems too much to say anything more. Trini then walked past Kim, leaving her looking slightly hurt and incredibly worried and leaving Trini feeling guilty

—

In truth, Trini was hardly sleeping and any rest she managed to get was normally filled with nightmares that made her thankful that she wasn’t sleeping. Her sudden increase in sleep deprivation came after the whole Rita incident. To be honest, Trini hadn’t been sleeping well before; she was just one of those people. Her dreams were full of flashes of emerald green and bright gold, pain shooting through what seemed like every part of her body, and the intense heat in the zords.

The PTSD was definitely getting to her and the fact that she spent every night trying to sleep in the very place where Rita invaded her home and privacy to attack her definitely didn’t do her any favours. She found herself waking up constantly, covered in sweat and panicking, convinced that she was two seconds away from losing everything and everyone that she cared about.

But once Jason and Kim got together, her dreams weren’t just full of Rita and what the Rangers went through or her friends and family dying because of her, but they also become scenes of the rest of the Rangers realising that Trini was unnecessary, surplus to requirement and in fact more of a nuisance and a hindrance than anything else.

After all, no one could say that she of all people was meant to be some sort of hero, and there was no denying the fact that there had to be someone out there who was more suited to the job. Someone better at teamwork, better at fighting, simply better than Trini could ever be.

It was like the development of ‘HartScott’ had triggered some sort of anxiety and insecurity fueled self-hating, which was honestly the worst. Trini never wanted to be a cliche, and yet, here she was in love with her best friend and being so fucking dramatic about it, and she never wanted to let other people affect her so much but the Rangers meant everything to her and this was affecting her in a way that she didn’t like

She spent every hour that she was asleep dreaming about losing the family that she only just found and built for herself, the people that meant the most to her, and losing the best of them, Kimberly. But Trini let herself pin her over-dramatic, lamenting inner monologue on heightened teenage hormones from being a Ranger and move on.

But the escalation of her lack of sleep was a serious sign for Trini that things were not going well and that she needed to sort herself out. And, for her, that meant stamping down on her feelings and crushing them into a small little ball that she could shove aside and pretend as if Kim wasn’t on her mind 24/7, that her thoughts didn’t constantly consist of Kimberly and ignoring all the ways that she felt around her.

It was this sleep deprivation that led to her grades starting to slip again and her attention span waning. She was falling asleep in the majority of her classes and had perfected the art of waking up from a nightmare whilst displaying as little amount of outward signs of panic as possible in situations where that was necessary. Otherwise, it wouldn’t just be the Rangers asking after her health, but her teachers, the counsellors, and her family

But the only way that she would ever get a peaceful night’s sleep was when she with Kimberly, and there was only so many times that Kim would come over in the middle of the night just because she had a nightmare. Trini couldn’t expect the other girl to always be by her side when she needed her but she couldn’t deny that the best nights were the ones when Kim was cuddled up with her, in her bed, reminding her that everyone was safe, that Rita wasn’t here but Kim was.

\--

The school bell rang shrilly, commencing a rush of students making their way to their classes. Trini fought her way to the door of her biology class, stood for a second, taking a deep breath, and walked into, not certain death, but certain detention. She made her way to the back, Kim already sitting in her usual seat next to hers, with her notebook out and her pens at the ready and, of course, her textbook out.

Once she had sat down, Trini looked around for the teacher and seeing that he wasn’t in the classroom yet, decided that this was the perfect time to lean over and ask Kim quietly,

‘I might have forgotten my bio textbook, so can we share?’

Kim looked at Trini with a barely suppressed shit-eating grin on her face. ‘You seriously managed to forget the textbook for the only class that you should never do so?’

‘Yep,’ Trini sighed hopelessly before continuing, ‘And I don’t want to get extra detention, so can you help me out?’

‘Yeah, sure. But if he asks, I’m throwing you under the bus.’ Kim grinned playfully and Trini ignored the subsequent soaring of her heart and let herself pretend that it was from relief that she might not get in trouble, as if she got any more detentions, her mom was going to make like the Romans and crucify her.

‘Wow, thanks.’

‘Hey, you’re the one who doubted my sneaking skills. I shouldn't even be letting you share with me!’

‘Okay, sure, Hart. Whatever you say,’

The door to classroom suddenly opened with a bang and the teacher, a middle aged, balding white man, strode into the room.

‘Take out your textbooks and turn to page 45!’ Mr Kope barked roughly, glaring out at the class from behind his wire rimmed glasses.

Kim looked at Trini with an innocent smile, moved her textbook so that it was in the middle of the two and flipped the book open to the correct page. Trini was just glad that the two of them sat at the back of the room because it meant that they had a smaller chance of being caught and the teacher was unlikely to see Trini hit Kim discreetly under the table and hiss to her, 

‘Don’t play around, you know my mom will kill me if I get in more trouble!’ 

Kim, for once, looked serious as she nodded. What followed this was some of the best ninja shit ever. Every time that Kope looked their way, one of them would pull the textbook in front of them and the other would scribble furiously in their book, pretending to take extensive notes. 

Thanks to them having lightning fast reflexes and them sitting at the back of the room, they managed to get through the whole class without him noticing the lack of one of their textbooks even once. Every time that he glanced at them, they smoothly pulled of their routine and then he moved on, they subtly high fived under the table. 

Trini could admit that it was the most fun she had ever had in a biology class, even finding herself smiling at one point, and the cover of taking notes actually meant that she ended up with some pretty comprehensive points about the topic they were covering. 

When the bell finally signalled, cueing the end of that class’s torture, Trini was out of her seat and halfway to the door before the bell had even finished ringing, far too nervous that Kope had realised their trick and would stop one of them on their way out of the room.

Once she was safely in the corridor, she finally realised that Kim was still a couple of paces behind and waited for her to catch up, which was when she noticed Amanda and her regular group of hanger-ons waiting beside the door. They hadn’t even noticed her and were peering into the classroom, presumably waiting for Kimberly to leave so they could harass her.

‘You walk pretty fast for someone with legs that short,’ Kim teased Trini playfully as she reached the door, unaware of what was waiting. The first sign for her that something was up was the dark scowl on Trini’s face as she stared forward. Kim turned her head to the side and sighed when she saw who her friend was sending a death glare to.

She sighed before asking, ‘Amanda, what do you want?’ Kim sounded defeated already and Trini felt her heart hurt at the thought of Kim being bullied and ridiculed by these girls. She steeled herself up even more and knew that if it came to it, she would do anything to protect Kimberly.

‘To make you pay.’ The Mean Girl snarled, ‘We noticed that your locker door is gone. Who the fuck just rips a door off its hinges, you freak?’ Amanda said in a nasally and hostile voice.

‘Uh, actually, that was me.’ Trini said, still glaring at the group of girls.

‘I doubt it, munchkin. I’m surprised that you can even lift your books. Go back to your middle school and leave this be.’

‘I’m not even that short,’ Trini mumbled in a low voice full of contempt for the girl across from her

‘Yeah, you are, Trin,’ Kim said, not even able to resist teasing her about her height in a situation such as this. She looked disbelievingly at the taller girl

‘Not the time, Kim’ Trini replied, as she watched the mocking looks manifest on the faces of the girls across from them.

‘You’re really friends with this loser, Kimmy? I know we sent you to the bottom of the social ladder, but I’m surprised you lowered yourself to this level.’ Amanda laughed, and the rest of her cronies followed suit, like the clones that they were.

‘Shut up, Amanda. Leave Trini out of this. I’m the one you have a problem with.’

‘It’s Trini, is it? Huh, I always thought it was Deedee. Not that I ever think about a loser like you,’ Cue the laughs again. Those were really getting on her nerves. ‘Anyway, Deedee, listen up, we are about to save you some time. Kimmy here is just going to stab you in the back. Get rid of her now or don’t be surprised when you end up with a knife in you.’

Trini gave a deep sigh and drawled lazily, ‘See, that was a really fucking stupid thing to say. I’ve just avoided getting more detention and now I’m going to have to get a few more weeks. That’s not cool.’ 

Amanda and her followers only looked confused at what Trini had said, as did Kim, but all became clear when Trini drew her fist back and punched Amanda in the face, holding back her strength obviously. Otherwise, she was pretty sure that she would have decapitated her, and the janitor shouldn’t have to clean up the result of that.

Kim stifled a giggle as she saw Amanda recoil, her nose gushing blood and once the cheerleader held her hand over her face and realised that she was bleeding, she shrieked and fell into a dead faint. Her clones screamed and yelled, accusing Trini of murdering Amanda and calling her a psycho and other lovely names

She then turned to Kim, who looked both shocked and amused, and grinned before saying, ‘Guess I’m off to the principal’s office then.’ And without another word, the two of them walked off, leaving the cheerleaders in utter chaos.


	3. three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, apologies for any and all OCC-ness
> 
> tumblr: unhauntng

The principal of Angel Grove High looked despairingly at two students that he never thought would cause as much trouble as they had lately - Trini Gomez, a girl who had moved from so many schools in the past few years, but had never been kicked out of a single one, who was currently looking dead ahead with a neutral and unbothered expression, and Kimberly Hart, the previous ‘queen bee’ of the school before her recent fall to the bottom of the social ladder (yeah, so what if he listened to some of the student gossip? Who says that the teachers can’t talk about what’s going on in the school when they’re in the staff room?).

‘So, Trini Gomez, you’re already in detention for ripping a locker door off and skipping some classes. Kimberly, you’re attending Saturday detentions because of the, um, ah, photo incident,’ He felt rather uncomfortable and adjusted his glasses and shuffled some papers in order to avoid looking at them. ‘Girls, why don’t you just tell me what happened, ok?’ He said with a weak smile, hoping that the situation could be remedied quickly. 

‘Amanda was bullying Kim, so I stepped in.’ Trini said in a perfectly calm, almost bored tone. 

‘Do you have any proof that Amanda was bullying Kim? As far as I know, the two were friends for years and Amanda is a wonderful, sweet girl. I’m sure there must have just been a misunderstanding?’

Kim cleared her throat, and the principal felt any chance of resolving this easily go down the drain. 

‘Uh, actually, sir, someone caught the whole thing on camera and sent it to me, if you want to see for sure.’ Her innocent expression, that had been rather convincing until now, finally slipped as she smirked. Hart held out her phone and pressed play on the video that she had brought up. He watched the screen as the grainy and shaky footage showed Amanda and a group of other cheerleaders confront the two girls after class. Once the video had ended, he sat back in his seat, removed his glasses and began to clean them whilst he talked, so that he didn’t have to look at the two girls. 

‘Well, it seems to me that Amanda and her friends were just trying to help Trini here out, uh, socially, I mean. The punch seemed unnecessary and it actually seems like you were the most hostile one there, Trini.’ 

The girl only scoffed at his words and shook her head rather angrily, whilst Kimberly Hart’s face fell and a hurt expression overtook it. He could sense that this was going quite badly so made a desperate attempt to fix it. 

‘Now, listen to reason, girls,’ He pleaded, waving his hands about to emphasise, ‘Amanda and the other girls in that video are important to the school as cheerleaders. I don’t think that this small situation, that seems to have been blown out of proportion a bit, should be something that gets girls with such a good reputation and such a quality contribution to our school in trouble! Don’t you agree?’ He looked at them with a smile, believing that he had just placated the now rather angry Gomez. He watched as Trini looked to the other girl in disbelief, registered the hurt on Kimberly’s face and grew even more furious. 

‘Listen up, sir,’ the girl, her tone seeming lazy and calm but there was a dangerous undertone of anger that made his smile slip from his face, ‘Kimberly is totally innocent in all of this, and it’s not her fault that those cheerleaders were badmouthing her to me. I don’t know how you can let girls like that get away with terrorising and bullying other students, but I won’t let Kim be dragged down into it. If you want to punish me for punching Amanda for bullying my friend then so be it,’ 

Both he and Kimberly looked at the short girl in disbelief, although Hart’s expression was joined with a look of pride, whilst his a look of offence. 

‘I don’t know how you think that you can get away with speaking to an authority figure in such a way but it appears that you need a few more months of detention. Not just for punching an innocent, well-meaning girl, but for wrongly accusing and addressing me in such an aggressive manner.’

‘Whatever,’ The girl rose from her seat and strode out of the room, looking unbothered, considering his verdict, and was quickly followed by her friend who was calling out her name. 

‘And don’t think that I’m not calling your parents, young lady!’ He called out after them, before sighing with a defeated expression The principal was rather disappointed that the other girl had escaped receiving any punishment but supposed that giving the Trini girl detention was enough. Teenagers these days are so hard to deal with

\--

‘Trini!’ She heard Kim yell after her as she stormed out of that asshole’s office, powered by what seemed like rage alone. The girl eventually caught up with her, aided by the fact that she had longer legs so could move faster. 

Damn height. 

‘Why would you do that, Trin!’ Kim asked her. 

‘Why would I do what?’

‘Get yourself in more trouble than necessary? Get yourself in trouble at all? Punching Amanda wasn’t necessary!’

‘I’m not just going to let them bully you, Kim. Just because you did a shitty thing to them doesn't mean that you deserve this. They’re bad people. You’re not. Don’t excuse their actions just because you think you deserve it.’ Trini felt hot fury run through her veins as she defended Kim against….Kim herself? She didn’t even know anymore but she definitely wasn’t going to let her think that she deserves anything less than the best.

Kim sighed and looked around wildly, before grabbing Trini’s arm and dragging her into an empty classroom amid her protests against how tightly the taller girl was holding her arm. She took a defensive stand as she leaned against one of the tables in the classroom with her arms folded, whilst Kim tried to make her see “sense”

‘Regardless of that, you got yourself extra detention by punching her alone. Then you spoke back to the principal?! You are aware that your mom is going to absolutely murder you, right?’ As she looked at Kim, she finally deflated and slumped against the table

‘Yeah, I’m dead meat. I’m still in trouble for the locker thing.’

‘So why did you do it?’ Kim looked questioningly at the other girl, who just looked at her feet and muttered grumpily, 

‘I won’t let anyone hurt you,’ Even as she said the words, Kim felt a smile grow on her face and she walked forward to envelop a surprised Trini in a hug. 

‘Thank you, Trini’

‘Of course,’ The shorter girl replied casually but she felt a lump develop in her throat and her voice was thick with emotion. 

Kim laughed and pulled away and Trini found herself already missing the feeling of having her in her arms. 

‘You do realise that you spent the entire biology stressing about getting detention and now you've gone and got more than you ever would have gotten for the textbook thing?’ There was a massive shit-eating grin on Kim’s face but Trini just said, smiling softly at the taller girl

‘At least I went down fighting for a worthy cause,’ 

Kim sent her own sweet smile in return, and there the two stayed, hiding in the shadowy classroom until Kim’s phone began to ring. She pulled it out of her pocket, sending Trini an apologetic look before checking who was calling, which caused her expression to morph into a brighter, happier one. She looked at Trini and said, 

‘It’s Jason, I gotta go. Thanks again,’ and then she just turned and walked away, leaving Trini like it was easy, like it made sense to just leave her standing alone in the dark with a bitter feeling in her mouth, something that tasted like heartbreak, as she knew that she would always be second best to Jason.

Eventually, her mother called her, telling her in a voice that contained barely restrained rage that she was here to pick her up. She pocketed her phone, and left the school, telling herself that, if her phone isn’t confiscated, she would text the boys later and explain what happened and why she wasn’t at school for the rest of the day. 

\--

The atmosphere in the car during the ride back to the Gomez house was tense and apprehensive, with Ms Gomez stewing in her anger whilst Trini just gazed out of the window looking slightly bored even though she was actually about to shit herself with fear. Not a word was spoken between the two of them as they drove home. 

Trini was slightly surprised that she was allowed to go to her room without receiving a lecture from her mom, but she also knew that this meant that she was building it up and that Trini was just going to get yelled at more. Still, she was thankful for the brief escape from the crushing tension that was now between her and her mom.

She probably should have spent the time doing her homework so that her mom didn’t have more to yell at her about, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t received the same lecture about keeping her grades up a million times. And plus, even though her parents were constantly on her ass about them, it wasn’t like she bad grades. In fact, Trini had been a straight A student her whole high school career, even with the constant moving. So she didn’t see the harm in spending the time playing with her brothers instead of doing her homework. 

Her brothers had been playing Power Rangers when she walked into their room, and Trini laughed when she saw that they were trying to re enact the battle between Rita and the Rangers. 

‘Hey, can I join?’ Her brothers squealed when they saw her

‘What colour do you wanna be?!’ Diego asked.

‘Uhhh, I wanna be Yellow,’ She ‘decided’

‘Yeah, he’s so cool!’ Her other brother, Jose, exclaimed.

‘What makes you think that they are a ‘he’?’ Trini asked, a mischievous glint in her eye as she watched her brothers gape and then decide that half of the Rangers were now girls. She felt her heart swell with pride at the fact that they hadn’t even questioned the possibility of some of the Rangers being female

\--

Later that evening, after dinner, which had been an incredibly tense affair, when Trini walked into her bedroom, having just finished in the bathroom, she didn’t expect to turn around and see her mother sat on her bed, with a tight lipped smile in place of a greeting as well as a strained expression. 

Seeing Trini’s hesitance, her mother started by saying, ‘How was school?’ in a tone that implied that, for once, she really didn’t give a shit what she got in reply. Taking a seat on her desk chair, Trini replied,

‘Uh, fine?’

‘Right,’ Her mother said briskly, clearly finished with that brief period of beating around the bush and deciding to get down to the business of why she was in her daughter’s room, a room that she herself had declared ‘a hell pit that she would never step into as long as it was kept clean’. 

That was their agreement: Trini didn’t mess anything up too much, and her mom left her alone. They had both seemed to decide that it wasn’t worth trying for a strained relationship anymore, that every interaction would only end in an argument. 

‘Anyway, Trini. As you know, your father and I received a call from school today as your principal seems to think you are beginning to become some sort of problem for him. But before I told you I was there to pick you up, I had a talk with him. He told me, in far more detail than you ever cared to, about how you ripped that locker door off of its hinges. He also told me about how you punched a girl and then didn’t take any responsibility for it, but the most important thing that he did was show us the locker that you destroyed. Regardless of how the hell you managed to rip it off of its hinges, there was something more disturbing about it. There were some-’ 

And here was the first place that her mother hesitated in her rant about Trini’s behaviour at school. Her voice was strained and her expression unsure. For a moment it looked like she may be rethinking what she was going to say but she continued on a second later. As her spiel continued, Trini felt panic and sadness take over her body

‘There were some horrible comments written on it. Now, I know that this was Kimberly Hart’s locker, your principal told us that, but a lot of the comments made reference to you. They were calling you gay. And I need to ask whether or not it was simple bullying or if there is something going on between you and this Kimberly.’ 

The pure amount of disgust that she managed to inject into Kim’s name was actually impressive as well as incredibly anger inducing for Trini. She paused for a tense minute, worry taking over her mother and in that second, Trini realised that she didn’t want to live her life in fear of her mom’s reaction to everything. It was her problem if she couldn’t accept her own daughter, not Trini’s. She wasn’t going to lie anymore. So, clenching her fists and preparing for the incoming shitstorm that she was causing, Trini said,

‘I’m not dating Kim,’ And just as her mother seemed to deflate with relief and a happy expression appeared on her face, she finished by saying, ‘But I am gay.’ 

She had never seen her mother look both so heartbroken and so disgusted. Half an hour later, her room was bare of her posters and anything that had made it ‘Trini’s’ and her suitcases were outside the door, which had just slammed behind her. 

She vaguely heard her mother crying and yelling in Spanish over the phone to her father, and she was surprised that she didn’t feel more grief and sorrow, instead of this strange mix of numbness and indifference that had taken over her body. The only thing that she was sad in that moment about was that she couldn’t see her brothers anymore. Trini found herself not giving two shits if her ‘family’ accepted her anymore, she was too angry and shocked. She had her friends, and that was all the family that she needed. 

chat with:  
[z-man], [kimberegg], [redrobin], [bcran] and [grumpygay]

power lamers

 

grumpygay: someone come pick me up from outside my house. i’ve been kicked out 

z-man: shit, t, are you ok?

grumpygay: just, someone come pls.

redrobin: on my way

Jason reached the house in record time, his tires squealing on the asphalt as he pulled up, the truck still looking pretty smashed and damaged. But Trini didn’t even care that this truck looked more likely to kill her than Rita did as she threw her duffle bag of clothes and valuables in the car and hopped in, telling Jason to drive. His truck was squealing away seconds later. 

After a while of driving in silence, Jason pulled up outside the mines. 

‘What are we doing here?’ She asked, to which he only responded by beckoning her to follow him. 

Eventually, they reached the top of one of the highest cliffs in the point, the one where they jumped into the spaceship where they became Rangers. There they sat for a while, their legs dangling into the abyss, not talking, just sitting in quiet amicable silence. Trini realised that she had so much pent up frustration towards Jason that the guy simply just didn’t deserve. He had never been anything but supportive towards Trini and she actually didn’t know what she or any of the others would do without him. 

‘My mom kicked me out because she thought that me and Kim are dating,’ She said, breaking the silence that had settled between the two of them since they had sat down. Jason barely reacted to the information, just nodded and said,

‘Did you tell her that you aren’t?’

‘Yeah,’ She said, looking at the view from the cliff instead of Jason, ‘But I was sick of trying to pretend to be someone I’m not, so I told her I’m gay.’

‘So she kicked you out?’ 

‘Yeah, pretty much. Said some stuff about her daughter being claimed by the devil and that she had to save the rest of her family and get rid of me now.’

Jason nodded again, although he did seem a lot more tense than he had been before. 

‘How you doing with that?’ he tried to ask casually, but his concern bled through his facade and Trini felt her heart swell with love for the guy. 

‘I’m ok right now. It hasn’t sunk in, I just feel kind of numb,’

He nodded again and the silence settled over the two of them once more before Jason broke it by saying,

‘You know how I’ve been having issues with my dad?’ Now it was Trini’s turn to nod as he continued, ‘Well, we have started arguing about something other than how I screwed up my whole life.’ He sighed and then finished by saying, ‘My great aunt died a couple of years ago. She left us her house. It said in her will that once I reached 18, I would get the house. My birthday is next week and my dad is saying that I can’t get the house until I stop fooling around and start trying to get back to playing football.’

‘I’m sorry, Jason,’ Trini said.

‘It’s fine. Anyway, my point is that whether he likes it or not, I’m moving into my house. Even if it just gives me a bit of space from my dad, that will be good. What I’m trying to ask is whether or not you want to move in with me?’ 

Trini just looked shocked. She couldn’t believe that she had reached a point in her life where she had people who would be willing to do this for her. She realised that Jason was still talking, looking at the horizon, and tuned back in.

‘You shouldn’t have to live in a place where you can’t be yourself. Now that you’ve been kicked out, I don’t know what your plans are. You don’t have to move in with me, but I’m moving in there anyway to get a little bit of space from my family so that I can sort out what I want from what he wants for me. There will always be a welcome space for you in the Jason Scott household.’ He finished his offer with a wry smile as he finally looked at Trini. 

‘Yeah,’ she replied finally, her voice a bit thick, ‘Yeah, I think that is a perfect plan. When can I bring my stuff over?’

‘Well, I legally can’t move in until next week, so for now, I guess you will have to live with one of us Rangers. I doubt that my family will let you, my dad already thinks that you're a bad influence, but he would be happy to have you round for dinner if you want. I was actually thinking about having all the Rangers round so that maybe my dad would be ok with me not being friends with those football assholes anymore,’

‘Well, if anyone can make a good first impression, it’s Billy and Kim,’ She remarked frankly

Jason laughed, nodding, ‘That’s true,’

They sat in amicable silence once more as Trini pulled out her phone and started tapping away quickly. 

 

chat with:  
[bcran] and [grumpygay]

i guess that we are (not evil) green???

 

grumpygay: hey billy, y’know how i got kicked out?

bcran: Yeah, are you ok?

grumpygay: i will spill the deets later, but first

grumpygay: any possibility of me moving in for like a week or smth?

bcran: Well, I would have to ask my mom, obviously, but she likes you so I am pretty sure that she will say yes. Give me around 1.5 minutes.

grumpygay: sure b

bcran: As I thought, she said yes, but she wants to talk to you beforehand. Is that ok?

grumpygay: yeah sure, i will be around in a sec.

bcran: Cool, I will tell my mom to get the cookies out. 

grumpygay: Jason is coming too, that good?

bcran: We only have 3 packets of cookies, so other than the fact that I will be out of cookies, that’s fine.

‘Billy said I can stay with him for a week, and I don't think he will mind if I’m there a bit longer while we set the house up. Can you drive us there now?’ Trini asked as she shut off her phone and shoved it back into her jacket pocket.

‘Yeah, sure.’ Jason stood up and offered Trini his hand, and pulled her up once she took it. 

The two of them walked back down to Jason’s truck and were soon pulling up outside of Billy’s house, at a much more sensible speed than when Jason had driven to pick up Trini from the sidewalk outside her house just an hour ago.

\--

Billy’s mom placed her cup of tea on the coaster on the table as she took a seat across from Trini and Jason, with Billy at her side. She looked at her critically and Trini began to feel herself get a little nervous and wish that she had actually done as her mom asked for once and made an effort to look less ‘punk’ as her mom so eloquently puts it. 

Or used to put it, Trini supposed.

But Mrs Cranston’s expression soon lightened and the woman chuckled, Trini following suit nervously. 

‘Don’t look so scared Trini, I’ve met you before and I think you're a wonderful young lady. Now, is it ok if you tell me why you need to stay here for a little while?’

Trini wrung her hands together, visibly nervous to come out to Mrs Cranston for the fear that she might not be ok with who she was and possibly even stop Billy from hanging out with her. She doubted her ability to cope without any of the Rangers. 

‘Uh, my mom found out that I’m gay and kicked me out.’

Mrs Cranston’s expression darkened and she looked angrier than Trini had ever seen her, and by the pure distress on Billy’s face, she was angrier than he had seen as well.

‘Mom?’ Billy asked her nervously, ‘Are you ok?’

She scoffed, ‘I can’t believe this!’

Trini gestured lamely to the door and said, ‘I can leave if you’re not ok with this?’

Billy’s mom’s expression morphed into one that wasn’t angry but instead horrified, ‘No, no, I’m not angry with you, I’m furious that someone could ever make their child feel like they can't be who they are around them and then kick them out or punish them for having the bravery to simply be true to themselves,’

Trini felt her body fill with relief and she let herself smile sheepishly and reply, ‘That’s my mom for you. It was never going to go that well. I was hoping that she would be ok with it but I guess she wasn’t,’

Mrs Cranston reached across the table and took her hand, saying, ‘I hope you know that I will always be here if you need an adult. I’m glad that you have such a great support system in your friends though.’

Trini beamed as she looked at Jason and Billy who both suddenly looked uncharacteristically bashful, Jason focusing on his hands. ‘Yeah, they’ve always got my back,’

She turned back and cleared her throat, pulling her hand out of Billy’s mom’s grip and back into her lap to join her other hand, ‘Anyway, Jason and I are moving into a house together as soon as he is 18 next week as that is when he will legally inherit it, and when his dad won’t be able to deny him from moving out. I just need somewhere to stay for the week and a couple of days as we set up the house if that’s ok? I can ask someone else if it won’t be possible for me to stay here?’ Trini’s voice trailed off nervously in lieu of asking if she could crash in the Cranston household for a while. 

‘As I said, I’m always here and my home is always open for you and for all of Billy’s friends. As long as you don’t misbehave, I’m happy to have you,’ The woman smiled warmly at Trini.

‘Thank you so much, Mrs Cranston. I promise I won’t be any trouble.’

‘I assume you will staying for meals?’ 

‘If that’s alright with you?’ Trini asked with nerves in her voice. 

‘That’s perfect!’ Mrs Cranston legitimately clapped her hands with joy and Trini felt a smile appear on her face, ‘I will finally have someone else to cook for! I love making food and it’s just been Billy and me lately. Although Billy has definitely developed a bigger appetite recently…’ 

Mrs Cranston trailed off thoughtfully, and Jason and Trini had to hide their smirks as they watched Billy getting embarrassed at his mom calling him out about his new-found appetite, a problem that had plagued all of the Rangers.


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, apologies for any occ-ness
> 
> hmu on tumblr anytime: unhauntng

It took Jason and Trini less time than they thought it would to get the house to a point where it was habitable. Jason’s great aunt had left it in pretty good condition so all they really had to do was replace some of the outdated furniture that Jason was ok with ditching, put the stuff that he didn’t want to lose in storage, and fix up some damages to the outside as a result of wear and tear from the years it wasn’t being lived in.

Safe to say that Jason and Trini spent a lot of their free time in the Ikea just outside of Angel Grove. Trini did need to get all new bedroom furniture after all and they also needed communal stuff for the kitchen and living room etc.

The rest of the Rangers helped them both move in, although it did not escape Trini’s notice that Kim spent most of her time assisting Jason, and although she couldn’t exactly blame the girl for helping out her boyfriend, she also couldn’t deny that it hurt a little bit for her best friend and crush to prioritise someone else over her, no matter how justified it was

In all fairness, Zack was loyal and helped her out, doing a lot of the building of Ikea furniture for her bedroom, as well as fixing stuff like the roof and some of the water pipes. 

He did a pretty good job considering that he had to google everything but that was probably due to the fact that Billy ended up helping him with most of it.

No one was surprised in the slightest.

\--

Trini and Jason were living on their own now, and that meant that they didn’t have any financial support from their parents. Billy’s mom brought around fresh groceries every so often, because she was a literal angel that heaven itself had sent along with her son, but they both knew that that was nowhere near enough.

So that was why Trini was spending her afternoon sitting in the dingy back room of the local hardware store waiting to be interviewed for a job opening, figuring that if she needed to get a job, she might as well get one where she would get one where she got an employee discount on stuff that all of the Rangers would always need - Ranger strength and powers were certainly vital in battles but they all often found themselves breaking everything around them as it was hard to judge what strength was needed.

Safe to say, they had suffered plenty of broken mugs, plates, door handles and every single one of them had smashed their phones. They had broken a lot of phones. Luckily, Billy was a literal angel and was able to fix them every time, so that none of their parents go suspicious and also, none of the Rangers could be left without the ability to communicate in an emergency

Trini was mainly thankful that she could still play Candy Crush

Regardless of Billy’s talent for fixing things, they still needed stuff like tools and supplies, so Trini thought that getting a job in a hardware store would be a good idea. Jason was working for his dad on the boats, and despite their tense relationship, he was still bringing in money from them, so Trini could hardly just sit on her ass and do nothing. 

Thankfully, Billy had taught her the right words to use and things to know about pretty much anything that could relate to a hardware store so she was prepared for the interview. 

By the end of the afternoon, Trini was the new owner of a plastic name card and lanyard, an employee t-shirt, and various new tools as a thank you for Billy

\--

It had taken a lot of convincing, pleading and begging for the others to get Trini to even consider coming to the party. It wasn’t exactly her ideal way to spend her Friday night but the others had spent a long time promising that there would be alcohol and they wouldn’t leave her side. Billy hadn’t been eager either, but as soon as Jason asked him, he found himself agreeing pretty easily. Of course, not everything worked out as they had said it would. 

The five of them were barely five seconds through the door before Jason and Kim had disappeared into the throng of people in various stages of intoxication, Billy was soon standing in a quieter corner, but to his credit, Zack did stick by her. But instead of leaving her, he dragged Trini to help her chat up some girl, spouting shit about her being the perfect wingman for him. 

She suffered for hours like this, surrounded by people she honestly didn’t care about, listening to music she hated and just spending her time drinking, lamenting in her head about how she could have just gotten drunk at home, without spending her night surrounded by dude-bros and cheerleaders. It wasn’t like her and her friends were particularly wanted at this party - it was a high school party and they were residents at the bottom of the social ladder. Most people had barely noticed their presence, but Jason, Kim and Zack were enjoying themselves so she didn’t escape like she wanted to. Billy disappeared for a while, but she suspected that he was just going outside to get away from everyone

As the night progressed, the thumping music started giving her a headache, although it probably didn’t help that Trini had been pretty much inhaling alcohol all night. She was telling herself that she was competing against Zack but in truth, she didn’t give two shits about winning the little contest that he had proposed. She was more focused on forgetting the constant ache that had made its home in her chest and the fact that the sadness she usually felt pressing on her had increased dramatically.

Trini felt like she had the weight of the world on her chest and she was loath to admit that knocking back shot after shot wasn’t doing much to change that. She was reaching the end of her limit, the world going a little hazy around the edges when she caught sight of what she had been trying to ignore all night.

Kim and Jason were dancing together in the middle of the living room, surrounded by other partygoers but the way that they were looking at each other and the way that they were grinding against each other made it clear that to one another, they were the only people in the room.

The music playing was bass heavy, perfect for teenagers to dry hump each other two, and normally she couldn’t give a fuck about what her peers did together but as she watched her two fellow Rangers on the dancefloor, Trini felt her heart sink to her shoes, and her mouth go dry. 

With her heart beating loudly in her ears, she shoved her drink into Zack’s hands and strode out of the room, muttering something that didn't do anything to calm the boys' drunken protests to her departure. 

She burst out of the back door and into the fresh outdoor air, taking deep breaths as she sat down on the doorstep. The back garden was free of partygoers and she was thankful for the peace and quiet that gave her time to collect her thoughts without sweaty bodies crushing her and alcohol being shoved into her hand. But no matter how many gulps of crisp night air she took, nothing would erase the image of Kim and Jason dancing together out of her head. 

Trini had never been so annoyed with herself. They were dating, for fuck's sake and she had no right to get upset over this. But no matter how much she tried to reason with herself, the feeling didn’t go away, so she spent a while out there, just breathing in the fresh air and trying to calm her thoughts. The warm buzz that the alcohol had given her was slowing fading away, her Ranger powers didn’t let her get inebriated, to make sure that she was always ready for an attack.

After a while, the door opened, and Billy stepped out to sit next to her. 

‘Hey, Trini,’ he said, and Trini nodded in lieu of a proper response

There was a small silence before he said, ‘Do you think that Kim and Jason are a good couple?’ Trini looked at him to see that he had the most unsure and insecure expression that she had ever seen on him and her incredulous feeling faded away to concern.

‘You alright, Billy?’ She said, avoiding answering his question.

‘Yeah, I just, it hurts to see them together and I can’t stop it,’

‘I know exactly how you feel, Billy. It hurts me too,’ She sighed and looked into the night unhappily, wishing there was something she could do to just make everything ok again, send them all back to the beginning when she felt more hostile feelings for Kim than soft ones.

But then again, she had Kim and the others now and surely she should be thankful for that, even if she didn’t have the sort of relationship with Kim that she really wanted? Trini decided that it was enough to even have the other girl in her life. She was one of her best friends after all and Trini was lucky enough to even have to use the phrase ‘one of her best friends’. Before she had zero friends. So she was happy to just have Kim in her life but there was no denying that she wanted more. 

After all, Trini had known about the way that she felt for months, yet she still seemed to struggle every time that she saw Kim and Jason act like a couple together and the two of them didn’t deserve that. 

But the fact that even Billy, who was literally the best person that Trini had ever met, was having trouble dealing with unrequited feelings, helped her excuse the way that her stomach turned every time that she saw Kim and Jason together.

\--

HartScott lasted about four months before they began to reach the first rocky parts of their relationship. Training sessions started to end in screaming matches instead of sparring matches and growing tension within the team was taking a toll on every member. 

Whenever an argument arose between the two, Trini found herself torn between anger towards the two of them for letting things reach the point where the seriously affected the team, annoyance that two of the people that she considered more like family than the people that had raised her were hurting each other and the rest of their friends, and a sense of euphoria that caused guilt to settle in her chest. 

She obviously wanted to protect Kim, and she hated having to just watch Jason inadvertently hurt her and she also hated having to watch Kim do the same. They both meant a lot to Trini. She had managed to let go of her jealousy toward Jason and although she still had her moments, ie the party, she had realised that it was more important that she had the two of them in her life at all, no matter the nature of her relationship with Kim, and that she had to be thankful for that

But every time that the two disagreed or fought or one of them messed up, Kim ended up coming to Trini for comfort and she had to admit that there was a small part of her that was happy to see that it was her that Kim came to every time she needed someone. It showed her that she was needed. And Trini was always willing to comfort Kim, no matter how much it hurt her to see her in pain

So, obviously, it was around the time that the Rangers were the most divided that they had been so far, that the Putties returned, and Trini would be lying if she didn’t say that the first time she saw one of those stupid clay monsters, a feeling of fear shot through her. There was only a few and the Rangers were quick to deal with them, but all of the group felt shaken. Especially when, after the Putties had been dealt with, they went back to the Pit, tried to morph again for more training and realised they couldn’t. And they hadn’t since. 

If the Putties were returning, was that a signal that Rita’s return was imminent? Or a sign that the people Rita had mentioned, (before they bitch-slapped her into space) the ‘more’ who would be coming for the Zeo Crystal, were on their way? Suffice to say, all of the Rangers felt a little on edge for a while after the first return of their old friends, the Putties. 

Zordon had put their loss of ability to morph down to stress and anxiety and told them to stay strong. He had literally said, ‘A team divided is no team at all. You must sort out your differences to save the Crystal,’ He had then decided to cast them into the Pit with Alpha-5 for extra rigorous training without armour, in an effort to stay ‘ever vigilant,’.

By the end of it, Zack had a broken nose, a bruised rib and a black eye, Jason had a split lip and a swollen finger, Billy had a fractured foot, and Trini had a broken finger, a new scar along her jaw and an injured wrist. They had also all collected various scrapes and bruises to accompany their injuries. 

To Trini, it had all sounded unnecessarily vague and unhelpful, and far too reminiscent of them discovering that they were a) superheroes due to fucking coins from outer space and b) supposed to save the world from a supervillain in 11 days. It had taken cliche bonding around a fire, hours of being beaten up by holograms in the Pit, and Billy’s death for them to get their shit together the first time. 

Trini was fearful that this time, there would be no second chances for anyone who got harmed, that there wouldn’t be a near-miraculous morphing of, first, them into their armour, followed by their Zords into the Megazord. 

In retrospect, the battle against Rita would have easily tipped in the favour of the maniacal crazy alien if it hadn’t been for so many convenient happenings and the world would have literally ended. She doubted that they would be that lucky again, and if it was Rita, then she didn’t see herself getting through much of a battle before she had a breakdown, and if it was someone stronger, then there was no way that their luck would hold up long enough for them to make it to the battle, let alone survive or even win it.

She couldn’t help but think that an attack must be imminent if the Putties were returning and it wasn’t hard to see that the Rangers were not exactly acting well as a team at the moment. Trini could only hope that by the time Angel Grove was in danger again, they would manage to get their shit together and do what is most important - keep their vow and protect the Crystal.

\--

Trini and Kim were getting coffee before detention, just like they did every week, but the atmosphere between the two seemed a bit more subdued than normal. Trini could tell that her friend wasn’t doing too well and her heart ached as she took in the shadows under Kim’s no longer vibrant eyes, the way her skin seemed paler than normal and the way that she seemed to slump and slouch, like the weight of her sadness was physically resting on her shoulders and she could no longer hold it up.

So, when they walked into the shop, Trini gestured towards an empty table before moving toward the counter instead of sitting down in one of the bright plastic chairs like she normally would. Kim reluctantly sat down where she had told her too, and when Trini turned around once whilst she was in the queue, to see if she was alright, she was struck by how hopeless Kim looked. 

Her posture was slumped, her hair a mess and her clothes were baggy. Kim’s face had lost its happiness, her eyes had lost their glint of mischief and joy, her skin had lost all trace of warmth. She looked like she had given up, like she was just waiting for everything to pass her by instead of wanting to experience it. She no longer looked like the beacon of bright light and happiness that she normally was. 

But another thing that threw Trini was the way that her love for her only swelled instead of diminishing. Kim may not have looked like she normally did, and didn’t capture the attention of the entire room with her undeniable brilliance like she usually did, but Kim still captured Trini’s attention as well as her heart. No matter what state she was in, she always had Trini’s love and that was never going to change.

Trini sat down with a sigh, placing Kim’s coffee and doughnut in front of her, but she didn’t even realise. Her head was turned to the window and she was staring out with a vacant look in her eye. 

Curious as to what Kim was looking at, Trini turned her head that direction too and saw that walking past the window, chuckling and having a good time, was Jason along with Billy and Zack. They were obviously on their way to detention as well, but instead of looking like his world was collapsing, Jason seemed fine. 

Trini felt the fires of rage ignite in her chest and she clenched her hands into fists, going white-knuckled. It wasn’t even his fault, but Trini, for some unknown reason (it was a known reason, she just still hated admitting to herself that she was in love with Kim), didn’t think that he should be parading around town when his girlfriend was in such a state. He shouldn’t act like the everything was fine whilst Kim looked like she was seconds away from just saying fuck it and going back to bed.

Suddenly, a hand rested on top of Trini’s clenched fist, and she looked up in surprise to see Kim smiling at her tiredly. Her hands automatically relaxed, her nails leaving half moon marks in her palms.

‘It’s sweet that you’re angry for me, but it’s fine.’ Despite her words and her smile, Trini had never seen Kim look so sad before, the smile obviously fake as it didn’t even touch her cold empty eyes. It was apparent that nothing was fine and that Trini needed to do something to cheer up Kim.

So she made a split-second decision. 

The legs of chair scraped against the shop floor as she stood up suddenly, grabbing Kim’s hand that had still been resting on the table, and pulling her friend up and out of her seat. Trini quickly grabbed her coffee, and just before she yanked Kim out of the shop, the other girl did the same.

‘Trin, where are we going?!’ Kim asked urgently

‘Well, we aren’t going to detention, that’s for sure,’ Trini replied, as they reached Kim’s car. ‘Your parents definitely aren’t home, right?’ Kim shook her head. ‘Right. Can you drive us to your house?’ Before the other girl had a chance to answer, Trini was already pulling open the passenger side door and getting into the car.

Once she was situated in the driver’s seat, Kim turned to the shorter girl and said, ‘Before I drive anywhere, tell me what’s going on,’

Trini turned in her seat and looked at her friend as she said, with a serious expression, ‘There’s no way in hell that you are going to detention when you feel like this. I will text Zack to tell him to cover for us, say that we are sick or something. But right now, we are going to your house and you are going to have a hot shower, change into your pyjamas and set up a blanket fort in the living room whilst I go to the store and pick up more junk food than even we could eat as well as several shitty films. That ok?’ 

Kim didn’t say anything as she placed the key in the ignition and started the car. Trini sat back in her seat and muttered, ‘Good,’

\--

The only source of light in the otherwise dim room was the gentle glow of the tv screen, illuminating Trini and Kim as they sat on the couch, curled together under several soft blankets. Daylight peeked around the drawn curtains but neither the light from the window or from the television disturbed Kim’s peaceful slumber. 

Trini looked at the girl softly snoring, with her head resting on Trini’s shoulder, her hair messy still and face finally free of worry and sadness. She felt herself smile softly at the sight. It was all that she wanted in the whole world to see Kim peaceful and happy. The whole Power Rangers thing had brought them all too much pain, the Pink Ranger in particular. But she seemed to be doing better now, in a group of friends with whom she could finally be herself. Trini was beyond happy to be there for her friend when she was in need as well as to be someone that Kim felt she could be herself with. 

She grabbed the remote and turned down the volume of the tv, that was still playing Mean Girls or some other film. Trini had honestly tuned out the second that she placed the disk in the DVD player. Her attention had been completely captured by Kim as soon as she felt her curl into her side on the couch. 

After a while, once the credits of the film started to roll, Trini eased herself out from underneath the weight of Kim’s head and torso, replacing her own body with some pillows. She padded quietly into the kitchen, seeing that the clock showed it was now around 3 in the afternoon. The two of them had had the best day together that Trini could remember having recently and there was no point getting Kim up for anything else when the girl was finally getting the sleep that she needed. 

Besides, she couldn’t let herself ruin what had been a perfect day with training or questions about Jason. Better to just let the situation lay for a while. After all, it wasn’t like Trini couldn’t ask about it once Kim was feeling a little better and was ready to share. 

For now, Trini was just happy to be with Kim.

\--

It was approaching midnight when Trini heard a gentle tap on her window, and nearly had a heart attack as Kim crawled through with tears running down her face, looking in a similar state to how she had been before their pyjama-and-movie day today. 

Without even saying a word, Trini shifted over so there was space in the bed and pulled the duvet back. The other girl made her way into her bed and wrapped her arms around Trini, crying into her pyjama shirt, mumbling something about Jason. 

Trini just held her tighter in her arms and let her cry until there were no tears left. So then, there they lay, with Trini doing her best to hold all of Kim’s breaking pieces together without breaking as well, and Kim too afraid of falling apart completely to let go of her best friend. 

After a while, Kim found the strength to pull herself out of Trini’s arms, and wiping her eyes, she began to tell Trini the story of why she came over. 

‘Jason’s started hanging out with one of the cheerleaders. Claimed that she needed help with homework for one of their shared classes. But now, she’s saying that they fucked whilst he’s denying it. I obviously have faith in Jason but what if he’s lying, Trini?!’ The confession almost sprung forth a new waterfall of tears, but Trini quickly pulled Kim in for another hug, and then, swallowing the bitter taste in her mouth that accompanied the forming words, she said,

‘Jason’s one of the best guys that I know. Your relationship is great and I have no doubts that he would be faithful to you. And even if you two break up, which I don’t see happening because I can’t imagine that he would cheat, we’re Power Rangers, you’ll have to find it within yourself to move on from it eventually and the fact that you’ll have to work together each day would help. In all likelihood, that bitchy cheerleader was just trying to get into your head.’

Kim tightened her grip around Trini and whispered, 

‘Thank you,’ 

Trini swallowed down all the pain, suppressed it and pushed it deep inside where she didn’t feel it burn her throat and her chest. Instead, she simply painted a smile on her face that was tinged with a hint of bitterness and said, 

‘I’m here for you Kimberly, I always am’

The two of them spent the rest of the night sitting in Trini’s bed, illuminated by the harsh light of Kim’s phone as they spent hours crafting the perfect text for Jason, apologising for Kim’s doubt. Once they had proof-read, spell checked, and read it aloud in as many tones of voice as possible to make sure that Jason wouldn’t get the wrong message from their words, Kim leaned over and kissed Trini on the cheek, before laying down properly and going to sleep whilst Trini spent hours trying to slow her heart rate down and get the memory of the feel of Kim’s lips on her cheek out of her head.

Safe to say, even with the warmth of Kim against her side, she couldn’t sleep that night.


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for any occ-ness  
> hope you are enjoying the story
> 
> again, hmu on tumblr if you want
> 
> unhauntng

chat with:  
[kimberegg] and [grumpygay]

pink lemonade

kimberegg: Hey, Trin, wanna celebrate the reopening of our lord and saviour Krispy Kreme by getting more doughnuts than any normal can eat?

grumpygay: you know that the way to my heart is through my stomach

kimberegg: Don’t lie Trini, I already have your heart.

grumpygay: idk what you could possibly be talking about ???

grumpygay: see you there in like two mins.

kimberegg: sounds like a plan, and let's not get any for the boys.

grumpygay: well, duh

The bell above the frosted glass door of the recently re-opened Krispy Kreme chimed happily as the two of them made their way into the shop. A few of the tables were full and some people were queueing at the counter so the two of them split up, Trini going to bag the best table, and Kim waiting in line for the doughnuts that Trini had been missing during this time of torture without Krispy Kreme.

Trini didn’t realise her mistake in her choice of table until the two of them were already situated with their chosen drinks and doughnuts. It was true that she had chosen one of the best tables, a glossy booth with cushioned seats instead of the hard plastic chairs that other tables sported, but the booth was also the best table for couples. It was in the corner, where they could have private conversations, and where no one would be forced to witness any PDA

As she sat across from Kim, their feet touching and brushing against each other underneath the table, Trini felt her cheeks flush and preoccupied herself with staring at her coffee. She kept her eyes on the way that the colours mixed, the deep brown of the coffee, a colour that Trini couldn’t help but compare to Kim’s eyes. swirling with the white of the milk, the two colours mixing into each other, creating a paler brown. 

She admitted that she loved seeing the colour being created (mainly because it meant that she had coffee and at this point she was pretty sure that she was powered by a combination of coffee and weird alien energy, but mainly coffee) but nothing would ever be as beautiful a shade as that of Kim’s eyes. 

The eyes that were currently giving her a weird look as she had started into her drink, not saying anything for way too long. 

Trini cleared her throat quickly and looked up, meaning to say something, to start a conversation or make Kim laugh or anything, but instead she was floored by the other girl’s beauty. It was effortless, Trini knew for a fact that Kim barely put any work into looking the way that she did - after all they had woken up next to each other often enough for Trini to at least have a vague idea of Kim’s typical ‘getting ready’ routine.

She made everything look so easy - that was what got Trini. The way that she never seemed to stumble over her words or ever had a hair out of place. Meanwhile, one look at Kim and she became a stammering, stuttering mess. 

Which was exactly what she was doing now, Trini realised as she felt her cheeks grow warm as her face flushed.

She promptly looked back down at her coffee, mumbling something about not feeling too great. 

‘We can leave if you want, Trini,’ Kim said, her voice holding a hint of laughter and amusement at Trini’s behaviour, but it was accompanied by worry and concern for her friend. 

‘It’s fine. Just didn’t sleep too well,’ As soon as the words left her mouth, Trini’s heart sank with the realisation that she should not have said that, anything but fucking that

Worry overcame Kim’s face and in a second she was out of her seat from across Trini and in the one next to her instead, wrapping her arms around her friend’s shoulders and letting Trini bury her head into her torso. 

‘You ok?’

Trini was silent, not responding to Kim’s question partly because she didn’t know what to say, partly because she could barely compute what was happening and that she was hugging Kim and she could feel the warmth radiating off of her, and partly because she had a mouthful of fabric from Kim’s soft wool sweater

‘M’fine,’ she mumbled eventually, her face growing even redder.

Eventually, Kim released her from the hug of death, Trini backing away quickly, trying to hide her flushed cheeks, but the gentle smile from the other girl told her that she had failed. 

‘Has Billy shown you his new creation yet?’ Trini asked, swiftly changing the subject.

‘No?’ she replied with a curious lilt in her voice. 

‘Oh man!’ Trini said, her excitement leaking into her tone and lighting up her eyes. She rummaged around quickly in her bag before pulling out a rolled up blueprint and several sheets of paper. She placed them on the table between the two of them, and the blush returned to her cheeks slightly as both of them simultaneously leaned over the papers

Now that they were on the table, Trini could show Kim that the blueprints showed a watch-like device whilst the papers were full of what looked like concept art for the same device. There were several notes on the blueprints, but they were notes that Kim could make neither head nor tail of. 

So Trini explained, ‘Basically, they look like watches but they are actually like communicators. They work on their own frequency and would allow us to have constant contact with each other as well as Zordon and Alpha-5. They also have an SOS button!’ Kim smiled as she saw how excited Trini was getting. 

‘Did you and Blue design these together?’ she asked, showing a genuine interest that only made Trini’s heart swell

‘Yeah,’ she replied, growing bashful as she saw awe develop in Kim’s eyes, so she was quick to add, ‘But it’s no big deal,’

Kim scoffed but let it go. 

‘Anyway, Billy and I wanna make each Ranger’s communicator correspond to their colour. It’s not exactly discreet, but it’s fucking cool,’

Kim laughed, ‘That’s true. I still don’t know how people haven’t figured us out yet,’

Trini shrugged, ‘But thank God that they haven’t, am I right?’ Kim nodded seriously, but it only took a moment for the two of them to break out into grins again and go back to a lighter conversation. 

So there the two of them sat, enveloped in the shadows of one of the darker corners of the new Krispy Kreme, talking happily to each other.

\--

The training session was ending in an argument as they usually did at this point but something seemed different this time - Jason appeared angrier than he had ever been before and Kim wasn’t saying anything. Normally she was yelling right back, standing up for herself and sending poison words at the boy but this time she seemed meek and unwilling to say anything. 

Trini was sitting on a boulder, trying to stay out of it like she normally did as she had no right to intervene or say anything if it wasn’t necessary. 

‘Jason! Calm down!’ Zack tried to reason with him, but Jason looked pretty scary right now. He seemed to be going completely red with anger and it was like Zack’s words, which were actually sensible for once, Trini noted with amazement, didn’t register in the Red Ranger’s rage-clouded mind. But then he replied,

‘No! This has nothing to do with you, Zack! This is about me and Kim!’ 

Trini stood up abruptly and said in a loud, yet calm, tone, 

‘Jase, please calm down. Don’t say anything you will regret,’

‘Shut up Trini! Of course you would be on her side, after all, you’re her best friend, and it’s not like we are blind - everyone can see that you’re fucking in love with her,’ Jason sneered and it was like his words had physically punched her in the stomach, because for a second, it was like Trini couldn’t breathe. 

She learned that day that Jason could get nasty when he was angry because even after he had said the words and seen her reaction, there was no remorse in his voice or on his face. 

Kim turned to her best friend and asked Trini, ‘What is he talking about?’ 

‘I think he was explicit enough, Kim. There isn’t exactly room for interpretation,’ Trini said in an even tone, one which didn’t portray the amount of shock and horror that she felt at the unfolding situation, not to mention betrayal as she looked at Jason, a figure of anger and rage, his posture ramrod straight and his hands curled into fists. 

‘Yeah, but it’s not true is it?’ Kim asked, tilting her head like some puppy that didn’t understand. 

Trini felt the words burst out of her like she was a dam that had finally been pushed past the limit and had let the water flow freely. 

‘What do you mean, not true? As Jason said, it’s fucking obvious! And you have no idea, Kim! No idea of how many nights I have lain awake, thoughts of you running through my head like they always do. I always knew that you don’t want me like that, that’s why I never said anything and I don’t want you to think that I think that I am entitled to something from you because that is not what I’m saying. But you were just so oblivious and sometimes it seemed like it had to be a joke, that you had to have realised and you just didn’t want to say anything. But you genuinely had no idea that right when I was doing my best to hold you together, to be there for you as a best friend and say that you and Jason would solve everything in the end, I was breaking, because I wanted nothing more than for you to say that it was me that you wanted instead!’

She breathed heavily as she finished her speech, and she realised that at some point she had stood up, her fists clenched. The rest of the Rangers were staring at her, and it seemed like Jason had calmed down because he had guilt painted all over his face.

But it was too fucking late because she had said the words now and Kim was backing away and it was like everything was falling in around her, like her heart was shattering, like the world was ending, all at the same time. 

A deathly silence followed her words, the air tense and dramatic, and this was exactly what Trini had wanted to avoid, this was exactly why she had never said anything - because everything would change. But she couldn’t take back the words that she had said, couldn’t stuff them back down her throat and pretend that it had never happened, couldn’t just say, ‘never mind,’ and carry on with the training session. 

She didn’t even have to ask, to guess, who it was that Kim wanted, who it was that she thought about all night, who it was that she actually liked in that way. It was Jason and it was always going to be Jason. Trini knew that she was setting herself up for failure, for heartbreak, she knew that nothing could ever be the same, but she kept going, foolishly hoping for the slim chance that what her heart was telling her wasn’t true, that she actually had a chance, saying,

‘Please, just, say something Kim! Say anything! Just, say something like it’s me that you want to stay! Just tell me whether or not it’s me?’ By the end, her voice was cracking and her tone was pleading but she had gone too far to ever turn back now.

Kim looked like it took every part of her self-control not to reach out for Trini as she watched her break before her. At one point, she looked like she was about to take a step forward, offer Trini some kind of condolence, but Trini flinched away, causing a hurt expression to manifest on Kim's face but at that point, she didn't really care if Kim was hurting because Trini didn't think she had ever felt so bad in her life. 

Eventually, she choked out brokenly, ‘No, Trini. It’s not,’ 

She nodded bitterly, and promptly turned on her heel and strode out of the room, her footsteps echoing around the cavern, trying to make sure that no one could tell that she was beginning to cry before she even made it out of the room. Trini couldn't let anyone see her break. She left, knowing that this was how it was always going to end, but breaking as she found that the last few sparks of hope that she had somehow kept alive within her were being stamped out. 

\--

The moon was high in the twinkling night sky and its silver light shone through Trini’s window, the curtains undrawn, creating small patches of pure shining silver moonlight on her bedroom floor. She had her headphones over her ears and was lying fully-clothed on top of her bed covers. 

Trini had spent the evening like that, alone and thinking. She couldn't stop herself from going back through memories of the past few months, of her and Kim together, hanging out in various places and acting like two normal teenagers, hiding from her mom or meeting in Krispy Kreme or having a campfire with the boys. Or times that they weren’t such normal teenagers, when they had fought together, back to back in battle, acting in such harmony that many had developed the theory that the Power Rangers were telepathic, using the Yellow and Pink Rangers perfect fighting style of unison as an example. After all, what else could explain the in-sync way that the two of them fought? 

At one point, as she seemed to be heading down a path of self-loathing and pain, either way, Trini even found herself unlocking her phone and starting to scroll through their texts, looking back to when everything had been so easy. 

She smiled bitterly at the painful feeling that arose in her chest as she read the messages, cursing herself for letting all this happen and letting herself wallow in the pain when she should be compartmentalizing and moving on to fixing her mistakes. After all, the Rangers had to stick together. There could be another attack at any moment - villains were not just going to wait for her to get her shit together before they tried to kill everyone. 

But everything was in pieces, in broken fragments, and she how no idea how she was supposed to piece them all back together, how they were supposed to still fight together and act like nothing was wrong in public? How could they still be Rangers when she let something as trivial as her feelings tear apart everything?

Nothing would ever be the same again and it was all her fault. She had told herself that her feelings would get in the way of her and Kim’s friendship or the Ranger team and she had been wrong on both accounts. She had always known that her friends would be better off without her or with someone else taking the mantle of the Yellow Ranger and now that was true because she had ruined the only thing that she had going for her. 

The saddest thing wasn’t even that Kim didn’t feel the same for her. Trini could have accepted that and moved on with her life. Maybe she would have pined for a while and it’s undeniable that she would have felt shit for a while but now everything was falling apart. The saddest thing was that now, Trini didn’t just not have the kind of relationship that she wanted with Kim but she now had nothing with Kim or any of the others. 

She had managed to lose almost everything that she held dear in a single moment and it was no-one’s fault but hers. It wasn’t like Trini could blame anyone else for the way that she had handled her feelings for her fellow Ranger. It certainly wasn’t Kim’s fault for not returning those feelings and instead wanting to be with Jason, and it definitely wasn’t Jason’s fault or any of the others.

Trini was well aware that she was being melodramatic and letting herself wallow in her feelings but she supposed that she could allow herself to do that for just one night. After all, it was like all her nightmares had come true. She had managed to lose the most important people in her life, all through her own stupidity. After all, there were many people who had handled unrequited feelings much better than she did.

And yet, despite her wallowing and indulgence in her misery, Trini knew that eventually, she would have to pick herself up and repair the bridges that she hoped she hadn’t burned. It was all coming apart but that didn’t mean they couldn’t start again.

She just hoped that there was something left to go back to. That she hadn’t ruined everything like Trini dreaded that she had.

\--

Jason came into her room the next afternoon, and despite her insistence that she didn’t need any help, he took a seat on her bed next to her anyway. At first, he didn’t say anything, just sat with her, letting their usual silence settle although she couldn’t deny that it felt a bit more charged than usual. 

‘Look, Trini,’ Jason suddenly started, sighing in a way that didn’t seem exasperated but instead like he was still thinking of the words as he said them, before continuing, ‘I can never tell you how sorry I am. That was never a secret of yours for me to tell and I feel so bad for saying anything,’ 

Trini scoffed bitterly, and Jason winced and looked down at his hand, genuine sadness and guilt written on his hands that wrenched Trini’s, heart. 

Nevertheless, he continued, ‘I know that you probably feel pretty low right now, but you should know that you’re still a Ranger, and despite the fact that it may not feel like you’re a part of the group anymore, I promise that you that you are. We can’t let feelings destroy a bond created by 6 million-year-old alien coins. The Power Rangers are bigger than this and I promise that we will get through this. I want you to know that you can always talk to me,’ 

Trini looked at him, her eyes clouded and her mouth contorted into a sneer, ‘Yeah, because I’m really going to want to talk to my crush’s boyfriend.’

‘Just because I’m dating Kim doesn’t mean we suddenly aren’t friends.’ Trini looked at him with a flicker of surprise on her face before going back to her expression of disbelief. 

‘You can’t seriously be ok with this.’ 

Jason shrugged and smiled. ‘It’s not like you can control your feelings. Besides, if there’s anyone that can appreciate why you have feelings for Kim, it’s me.’ He grinned at her and Trini couldn’t help but feel a responding flicker of a smile appear on her face. 

Trini began to see a glimmer of hope, like sunshine breaking through a cover of dark clouds, and she began to think that maybe everything could actually turn out alright and that she might have been a bit dramatic earlier. 

(That’s a lie, she knew she was being dramatic the whole time, she just didn't really care)

 

\--

She was vaguely aware of the regular noise filling the school hallways but Trini just kept her head down and ignored all of it, simply blocking it out of her mind as she walked through the school the next day. As with every other day lately, she walked through the halls barely registering anything and not talking to anyone. Most of the days then seemed to all merge together because she spent every second of them on her own. All of the Rangers looked her way whenever she passed them, trying to meet her gaze, but she ignored them all despite the kicked puppy looks that they then adopted. 

Trini had began a self imposed period of banishment. The Rangers were still her family, and she still lived with Jason but she didn’t interact with them nearly as much. At the house, she normally just stayed in her room and waited until she knew that Jason was either out of the house or in his own room before she dared to venture into the kitchen for food. Barring yesterday afternoon, they didn’t talk much anymore. Trini couldn’t deny that she still kinda blamed him for the whole situation but she also knew that it was always going to end like this and whilst it was his fault for making it happen now, it wasn’t his fault that she had been rejected and it wasn’t his fault that she now refused to spend anytime with her friends. 

She stopped going to the cafeteria for lunch, only waiting in line to collect some of the barely edible food, look at the table of all her (ex) best friends, laughing and talking, before walking back out of the cafeteria and eating her food in the back of the library on her own.


	6. six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, apologies for all and any occ-ness
> 
> hope you enjoy the chapter
> 
> hmu on tumblr: unhauntng

The noise of pebbles striking her window came, the soft noises of the small rocks hitting the glass interrupted suddenly by the louder smashing sound that the impact of a big rock makes when it fucking breaks a window. 

Trini heard a quiet call of shit come from the ground below her window and she scrambled quickly out of bed to walk over to look outside of the window frame, no absent of any actual window, mindful of the shattered pieces of glass that now lay around on the floor. 

(Trini tried really hard not to compare them to the pieces of her broken heart, in her tired, angsty head.)

(She failed)

Standing outside her house was Zack Taylor with a guilty ass look on his face and a fistful of pebbles. 

‘Sorry, Trini,’ He whisper yelled, ‘But can I come up?’ 

Trini nodded in lieu of a proper invitation into her room through the mess of glass, stepped away from the window and grabbed a hoodie that was strewn on her desk chair to place over the shards of broken glass at the bottom of the window so that Zack didn’t slice his skin to pieces as he tried to clamber into her room. His entry was nowhere near as graceful as Kim’s but soon enough he was standing awkwardly by the window, wringing his hands and unable to really meet her eyes. 

‘Why are you here, Zack,’ Trini’s voice sounded flat and exhausted even to her and although she felt a flicker of concern within her for her health, she also didn’t really give a shit right now. He looked up jerkily, almost as if he was surprised that Trini had noticed him like he hadn’t just broken into her home and smashed her window open. 

‘Uh, I came to see how you were doing, actually. I didn’t just come to break your window. I will fix that, I swear’ He had the decency to look sheepish as he looked at the mess of broken glass and actually scratched his head as he said the words. 

Trini scoffed and turned away to take a seat on her bed. Zack was her best friend. He was as much of that as Kim was , or had been, before the whole drama thing happened. He was always going to be her best friend, no matter what. 

But Trini was hurting. She wasn’t going to let anyone in, not even Zack. Her walls were up and they were ten feet high and impregnable. She felt guilty for snapping but she couldn’t help it. 

‘How the fuck do you think I’m doing?’ 

‘I don’t know, Trini, but I won’t let you be alone,’ Trini sighed bitterly but didn’t reply, but he still didn’t leave her side.

Zack stayed with her the rest of the night, only disappearing twice to quickly check on his mom before coming back to be with Trini

And he did the same for six more nights after that.

\--

The sound of her wrapped fists smacking into the material of the punching bag brought a smile to Trini’s face. She was sweating but she was happy - it felt good to go back to some sort of training. Jason had had them on an intense schedule and she could admit that she had begun to admit the feeling that the workout gave her. Of course, she wasn’t ready to go back to the pit yet, doing her regular Trini thing and staying the fuck away from messes that she caused. 

Instead, she had begun to frequent a gym in the centre of town, visiting most days after school, when she would normally be in the pit, training against the hologram putties or sparring with one of the other Rangers. 

Trini even stuck to her habit of getting coffee after her workout, although she cleared steer of the coffee shop that she would have gone to along with Kim or Zack, laughing and talking, not caring about the stares that followed them around town due to the fact that they always looked like they’d just been pushed into a dark alley and beaten up. 

It felt good for her to let out some of the tension that she was building up, and feeling her fists strike the punching bag before her was the best way that she knew how. Every punch had self- hatred and pain behind it, powering the strike but each of those punches channelled those feelings away from her, and she felt her tension drain away with every echo of the sound of her fists against the punching bag. 

She stopped swinging, letting the punching bag sway for a while, sweat dripping down her face as she took a breather. Whilst this was therapeutic, there was no point in trying to punch away problems that could only be solved with sorting through her mess of emotions, and actually trying to make up with the Rangers, who she still hadn’t talked to

So with that, Trini wiped down the punching bag, grabbed her gym bag and headed out of the door, determined to actually try to sort out the fucking mess that had become her life.

\--

That evening, Trini faintly heard a knock at the front door from her room and Jason opened the door, quietly talking with whoever it was and then the sound of footsteps coming up the old creaky stairs. 

There came a gentle knock on her door and Billy’s voice softly said, ‘Hey Trini, can I come in?’ 

Trini mumbled something unintelligible and he seemed to take it as an invitation to enter as he slowly creaked open the door and padded into the shadowy and gloomy room. He took a seat on her desk chair and sent a soft smile her way. 

‘How are you doing?’

‘Not great,’ Trini’s voice managed to crack but be deadpan at the same time, truly a skill only she possessed. He winced in sympathy and moved to take a seat beside the girl, wrapping her in her arms and letting her rest her head on his shoulder. 

‘You have always been there for me. Let me return the favour. I’ve got you,’ Billy said quietly, letting Trini let it all out, letting her fall apart and waiting to help her pick up some of the salvageable pieces. 

She was surprised that she let herself fall to pieces with Billy but not Zack but there was something about him that just made her feel like she could - not that she couldn’t with Zack. It was just that Billy was that type of person. She couldn’t keep him out, no matter how high, thick and strong she built her walls. 

\---

Her Power Coin had started heating up when Trini had been sitting in her desk chair, doing her homework, but also working on some sort of apology speech for tearing apart the thing that mattered most in the world, and the thing that mattered the most to her.

She had tried leaving the yellow coin in her room, stuffed in her drawer underneath some old t-shirts and gym shorts but the stupid thing still insisted on following her around all the time, like it was reminding her of the fact that she was still bound to the Rangers, that, like it or not, she was the Yellow Ranger and they couldn’t morph, form the full team or the Megazord without her. 

Right now, they needed her. 

Trini didn’t even remember leaving the house. 

One second, she had been at the table, the next, her burning Coin was clutched in her hand and she was sprinting full pelt down the street, ignoring the pain in her hand from the heat. She was running against the flow of fleeing people, which only encouraged her to go faster and push harder because whatever the people were running from was dangerous and where there was danger, there were Rangers.

Eventually, she caught sight of the other four, all of them standing in the middle of the street, without armour of any kind, in a line before what looked like a Zord on steroids. It look like some sort of terrifying dragon, and stood as tall as a skyscraper, and seeing that there were none of those in the shit town of Angel Grove, it was easily the biggest thing around. 

Which explained the terrified citizens running in every direction to get away from the terrifying, towering, thing. Some of whom must have had concerns about the fact that this was the second odd attack on Angel Grove within a year, but probably had bigger worries than why it was happening, like the fact that it was happening at all.

The massive ‘Zord’ was smashing about, smashing buildings under fists bigger than boulders with ease and crushing the street and cars and everything that got in its way. Fear grew in her heat as she rushed forward, but still, Trini was hesitant as she took her place at the end of the line of Rangers and stood with them, looking at whatever the fuck was before them. 

They all looked at each other nervously, collectively deciding that now was the not the time for a conversation about what had happened. With their Power Coins clutched in their glowing fists, they tried what had failed them for months - morphing.

Trini tried to force herself to feel the same connection that she had felt every other time she had morphed - tried to remember the feeling of the cold armour appearing on her body, anything that connected her to the Rangers. 

For a second, she swore that she felt it growing, or something manifesting within. But then - nothing. The all looked around at each other and for the first time, they realised that their luck had run out. 

There was no way that they could survive this but there they stood, unarmed and unprotected, facing whatever the hell was trying to squash Angel Grove into a shit stain on the map this time. 

‘Rangers,’ a deep booming voice sounded, filled with disdain and hate. ‘It’s useless to fight. Give up now!’ 

‘Nope!’ Jason shouted back

‘I am Lord Zedd and you cannot stop me! My Zord and I will crush this town into dust! I will claim the Zeo Crystal!’

His words were threatening and hateful and the amount of confidence behind them was frightening. It was like he could read their minds, could see their fear and he knew that they stood no chance. 

But Jason still called back, ‘Not gonna happen, buddy!’ He then whispered to the Rangers, ‘Get ready for a fight, guys, this isn’t gonna be easy.’

‘You could say that again,’ Zack muttered.

Every one of the Rangers steeled themselves for what was coming. At this point, death was inevitable and there would be no fairytale ending like with Billy last time. This time, there was no coming back. But she knew that, despite the conflict still residing within the group, she wasn’t alone in standing against this. Even if they couldn’t morph, they were the Power Rangers, and there was no way in hell that they were going down without a fight. Their luck was always going to run out eventually and she was glad that despite everything, she was still standing here, with them, till the end, as buildings crumbling and the streets and foundations of their town were being ripped up before their eyes.

Every one of them had promised to protect the Zeo Crystal and subsequently, the people and town of Angel Grove to their dying breath, just like Zordon’s team of Rangers had, and protect it they will. They had all nearly died for it already and Trini didn’t even have to look at the others to see that they were all determined to do their best to prevent the Crystal from being taken, even if that meant actually dying this time around.

Jason glanced around at them all again and they all nodded determinedly, before trying to morph again, but this time, it was different, it was like the first time they managed to produce the armour. The pure energy, the exhilaration rushing through her veins, all of it felt both so strange but so familiar and natural. She clenched her eyes shut, focusing only on the feeling running through her body, focusing on morphing. 

When Trini opened her eyes, she looked at the world from behind a helmet. Unable to keep the grin off of her face, she looked around at her fellow Rangers, elated to see that they were all protected by their armour. She had never been so happy to feel cold metal on her skin. 

Despite the people, the destruction and the screaming, Trini and Kim’s eyes met from different ends of the line and it was like nothing else in the world mattered, like none of the destruction was happening. Trini’s eyes instinctively looked away, darting to look at the floor instead. A hurt look appeared on Kim’s face but nevertheless, she moved towards her. 

‘Trini,’ Kim started, taking a deep breath, but before she could finish whatever it was that she was trying to say, Trini interrupted, blurting out, 

‘I’m sorry!’

Kim looked surprised and taken aback, saying, ‘What?’

Trini took a deep breath and braced herself, ‘I know this isn’t exactly the ideal time,’ at this she gestured to the panic and destruction around them, ‘In fact this is the worst time possible but, just in case something happens, I need to say sorry for causing conflict. The Rangers are the most important thing to me and I shouldn’t have jeopardized that bond or what a world without the Rangers could mean. I’m also sorry for bursting it out in the way that I did, I, uh, shouldn’t have said anything.’ 

The other girl waved her hands in the air around her, looking slightly panicked, ‘No, no, no Trini, you don’t understand. I haven’t been avoiding you because you have a crush on me, I’ve been avoiding you because I have been such a terrible friend that I thought you wouldn’t even want to talk to me anymore. I have caused you so much pain that I never wanted to and I can’t express how sorry I am for it all,’

Relief rushed through her, and even as flaming debris fell around her, Trini couldn’t help but laugh slightly, causing Kim to look slightly affronted, before she explained bluntly, ‘No, sorry, I’m not laughing at you, I just think that it’s funny that both of us had our heads so far up our own asses,’ Kim laughed at that too, seeing the humour in the whole mess of a situation now. ‘And, uh, I’m also glad to have you back,’ Kim stopped laughing and her expression softened into one of caring and love.

There was a second of silence before Kim said, ‘So, uh, do you still like me? Like that, I mean?’ 

Trini nodded, looking slightly apprehensive, but relieved when Kim just nodded. 

‘I’m sorry again, Kim.’

‘I’m sorry too, Trini,’ At this, the two of them couldn’t help but grin at each other, feeling that bond of friendship start to repair, but before long, Trini cleared her throat and looked away, gesturing to everything surrounding them, like the ever growing mess of rubble, and the people pointing at the two of them, shouting things like why the fucking they were just standing there, before saying

‘I guess we gotta deal with this, huh?’

Kim smiled and nodded and then the moment between the two of them dissipated and they began the battle. As she tore through Putties, Trini let herself smile slightly both with exhilaration and at the knowledge that, although it would be a long journey, eventually things were going to be just as before, if not even better. 

After all, they were Power Rangers and there was nothing that could break them apart. Not even themselves. 

\--

Her reunion with Kim had given her what she needed, given her a will to fight but after that, everything seemed to happen so fast. One minute she was morphing and the next she was destroying Putties, punching through one and reducing it to dust just in time for another to attack her. Lord Zedd’s, or whoever the hell he claimed to be, sinister and frankly disturbed laughter was echoing throughout the street, but Trini couldn’t let herself focus on that. She had to pay attention to the enemy before her, not get distracted by the next one. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Zack diving under Putties and destroying them whilst still managing to be super dramatic about it, even in a situation such as this. 

Kimberly was shooting at everything except the Rangers from her pterodactyl Zord, proving air support, covering the Rangers from enemies that they may not have been able to see or take down due to angles and shit like that

Trini could only catch flashes of the Red Ranger in the fight, but as long as she could see that he was doing ok and still moving, everything was alright. 

Before she could look around quickly for Billy, Trini found herself back to back with the guy himself, protecting each other from the Putties that had surrounded them and watching out for the Evil Zord who was stamping around and destroying stuff like it was a toddler having some sort of tantrum. 

She was kinda surprised that she and the others were still working so well together, that everything was still happening in some kind of unison, as she had thought that her self-imposed banishment from the team would have a negative effect on their ability to work together. Thankfully, she seemed to be wrong. 

What seemed like a second later, they were all in their Zords, teaming up against the Evil Zord with Kimberly flying above their heads, focusing her fire on what looked like the equivalent of the cockpit of the Evil Zord. 

She heard that Jason was yelling something about having to form the Megazord in order to take him down, though they had never figured out a way to do that since the pit-of-fire incident and Trini wasn’t too keen to reproduce that situation. After all, it had almost led to their deaths so, maybe not. 

Her heart was beating fast and although a lot of that was adrenaline, it was also due to fear. The fear that this time they wouldn’t be able to stop the threat, that this time they wouldn’t be so lucky or that she will end up in a situation where she starts panicking, where she is being crushed in her Zord, surrounded by fire and heat, just like the first time, and she won’t be able to cope. She couldn’t handle letting her friends down and not being able to fight hard enough to help.

Suddenly, Trini caught sight of the Evil Zord going for Kim, his huge hand moving to swat her out of the air like some kind of fly, travelling through the air at a speed that shouldn’t belong to a machine of that size.

The next thing that she knew, her Zord was responding to her and she was diving between the massive machine and Kim’s Pterodactyl Zord, not quite knowing why, but knowing that it was the right thing to do even as the smashing sound of the Evil Zord’s fist meeting with the cockpit of Trini’s Zord filled her ears. It was loud and painful and sudden, despite the fact that she knew it was coming. 

Trini felt herself be pitched forward and she smashed through the cockpit glass, and time seemed to slow as she began to fall to the ground below. Vaguely, she registered someone screaming, a voice that sounded way too far away, yelling her name. But all that she knew was the sight of the sky going further away, of everything rising up around her, like they were all growing, until she met the ground with a sickening crunch.


	7. seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am sorry
> 
> apologies for any occ-ness. hmu on tumblr: unhauntng

The screams of various people, citizens and several voices that she vaguely recognized as belonging to her friends, were all that filled Trini’s ears as she lay there, so many people surprised and horrified at the sight of a fallen Ranger, at the sight of one of their ‘invincible’ heroes looking broken beyond repair, reached her ears but she could barely register it through the pain. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion and she was barely registering anything around her, it was like she was drugged. 

Shards of her broken yellow armour and shattered Zord cockpit glass had pierced her stomach, back and sides, and she was bleeding profusely. As she lay there, groggy and in pain, even Trini could tell that accelerated Ranger healing couldn’t save her from this, and she began the quiet acceptance that no matter what happened, here was where she was going to die. To think that she had been immortal, no longer ageing and pretty much invincible except in battle against another alien, say someone as powerful as, uhh maybe, Lord Zedd, yet she had still died not only looking 17, but actually 17. Trini could help but find the morbid humour in that 

In seconds, Jason was out of his Zord and at her side, retracting his helmet back into his smooth red armour, and looking down at her panickedly and grabbing her desperately, but still carefully, in an attempt to make sure her wounds didn’t get any worse. 

He brought her to his chest in some sort of a hug that was made clumsy by his armour and the fact that her armour was broken in places and sticking out of her body so it wasn’t like he could bring their bodies very close together without hurting her. As Jason lay her back down on the gritty asphalt, he kept his hand wrapped around her shoulder and he said,

‘Trini, you're going to be fine!’ his voice seemed strong and sure but there was tone of hopelessness and pain in there that prevented his words from having the reassuring effect that she was sure they were intended to have.

Jason’s helmet was still off, and the citizens that were in safe enough areas were beginning to realise that the identity of one of their mysterious heroes had been revealed, and they were pointing at him. Despite the fact that another one of their heroes was literally dying, cradled in his arms, cameras were flashing photos of Jason and reporters were yelling questions. 

Vaguely, Trini realised that Jason was breaking one of the three laws of being a Ranger, and although she tried to protest, tried to tell him to get back to the fight, to leave her to die and that defeating Zedd was more important than being with her right now, it was like her voice had been silenced. She simply couldn't get the words out, so she lay there, with Jason fiercely protecting her from Putties looking to finish her off and the feet of the giant Evil Zord that was still stomping around

As her vision began to fade, she watched helplessly as he slashed desperately at approaching figures with his sword, crying out brokenly for backup from one of the other Rangers, every so often looking back down at Trini and telling her that she was going to be ok, that she just had to keep breathing, to just stay calm. His voice quivered and a part of her broke as she saw her fearless leader, someone that she looked up to and loved, breaking because of her. 

Trini wanted nothing more than to leap to her feet, to help her friends against the Evil Zord and the putties. But she couldn’t. It was like her body just couldn’t respond to what she was trying to make it do. And even after the whole Trini-being-in-love-with-Kim thing that they had all dealt with recently, Trini had never hated herself as much as she lay there, her helmet broken and cracked, the shards of dark glass everywhere, piercing her skin, her body, laying on the road around her. It was so ruined that, just like Jason, her identity was exposed and photo were snapped. 

She could feel that her face was covered in dust and blood, but eventually they would figure out who she was even if they only got a picture of her. The yellow metal of her helmet was torn away from her face, the shards resting around her head like a broken crown of hope.

The Power Rangers were supposed to represent strength and goodness, supposed to be a beacon of hope for those who needed protecting, yet here Trini lay, broken and dying, blood seeping from her wounds, pooling around her, the red stark against the yellow of her armour. 

She was no hero. 

Trini coughed a couple of time, hating the sound that her lungs made and the stabbing pain that she felt around her ribs, and the feeling of blood splattering her face and hands, and the pavement around her. 

‘Just hang on, Trini,’ Jason whispered to her gently, trying to hide the cracking in his voice, before whipping around and decapitating an approaching Putty that he seemed to have just sensed. 

A moment later, Zack was by her side and yelling at Jason to go help Billy. He removed his helmet in the same way that Jason had, the metal smoothly clicking back away from his face and sliding into a compartment within the armour. His face looked down at her, and she could see that his lips were moving and he was probably trying to comfort her but all that she could hear was a ringing in her ears. Her heart hurt as she saw that Zack’s face was blood streaked and his features was contorted with pain, and Trini couldn’t tell if it was emotional or physical

She wanted to call out, to tell him to put back on his helmet while he still could but again, her voice failed her, and she could barely croak out the warning before people took notice, started calling out and more photos were taken. Despite the fact that everyone now knew his identity, Zack stood guard of her, occasionally darting away to help any of the Ranger who desperately needed him but always coming back to stand by the side of his best friend. 

Trini then began to slip in and out of consciousness, always waking to sounds of screaming and battle and falling back to sleep to the sight of her friends fighting an unbeatable enemy whilst she couldn’t stand by their sides. Occasionally she muttered things like, ‘I need to help,’ or ‘I’m sorry,’ but every time Zack hushed her gently and cradled her carefully in his arms, telling her that it would all be ok and she just had to hold on but even Trini could hear that his voice was cracking and full of sorrow and hopelessness. 

Eventually, she managed to croak in a broken voice, ‘I don’t know if I can,’ as a reply to his pleading. Her best friend’s only answer was to start crying, burying his head in her chest, the tears mixing with the blood and dirt on his face, and his eyes were full of deep sorrow as he started to apologise and lament, clutching onto Trini like she was some sort of buoy and he was a drowning man. Then Trini slipped back into the darkness but the sound of Zack breaking followed her as she lost her grip on consciousness.

When she next cracked open her eyes, Trini saw the final part of the battle. She watched, helpless, as her friends battled against a surely unbeatable enemy, but managed to push them back and break them down to the point where it looked like they might win. Eventually, Jason managed to get a shot and took it, thrusting his sword deep into [ ] and watching grimly and without remorse as they collapsed to the ground, pleading for mercy, bargaining and begging, but he did not give it. 

Within seconds of their victory, the rest of the rangers were beside her, Zack still cradling her in his arms and the tears still fell freely down his face, their tracks clearing his skin of the blood and mud. Billy and Kim followed Zack and Jason’s example and clicked their helmets off, showing their faces as they surrounded their injured friend and the spectators crowded them, cameras flashing and people pressing against them, either yelling questions or murmuring about how they were all just teenagers, just children and they had done this, but none of them took any notice. 

In that moment, there was no one else but them. They circled Trini, and Billy began to talk in what seemed like a calm voice that only trembled slightly, 

‘Trini, you just need to stay awake, ok? Just keep your eyes open, we are going to get you help, ok? Please just stay with us, Trini,’ Towards the end, his voice began to crack more and you could see the hope drain away from his face. Jason started yelling and looking around wildly,

‘Doctor! Is anyone here a doctor!? Please!’ he just repeated that over and over, his voice growing quieter as the people in the crowd just stared at him, no one rushing forward to hep

‘I don’t think I can, B,’ Trini chuckled drily, coughing up more blood as she spoke. ‘I think... that this is it,’

‘No!’ said Kimberly, refusing to believe it, ‘Billy died and came back, you can do the same!’ She had a wild look in her eyes and she was wringing her hands. 

‘Kim,’ Trini said as gently as she could with her hoarse voice. ‘It’s ok. I’m ok. Billy was in the right place at the right time when it came to him coming back. That was sheer luck. This isn’t the same. This is the end for me.’ Her voice was weak and shaky as she said the words.

The Rangers all protested, refusing to accept this without even trying to help her. They were each reacting differently, Billy brainstorming quietly about things that could help, Jason still searching for someone in the crowd to help, ignoring the questions about his identity and how he came to be a Ranger being yelled at him, Zack silently at her side, tending to the wounds that he could, whilst Kim was doing her best to reassure her that it was going to be ok, that they would do something, before radioing in to Alpha-5 with the communicator strapped to her wrist. Trini smiled slightly at the sight of the communicator, glad to see that Billy had finalised the design and produced a product that looked amazing and seemed to work great judging from the reply from Alpha-5 crackling though. 

But Trini continued, her words punctuated with coughs:

‘It was an honour, to meet all of you and to know you like I did. I’m sorry for everything and I wish that we could have had longer.’

Looks of terrible sorrow and grief overtook the Rangers’ faces as they stopped their efforts and looked down at their broken friend, her armour smashed and cracked, pieces of yellow metal and jagged glass protruding from her stomach and limbs and her skin seemed so pale.

She grabbed Zack’s hand, as he had been kneeling at her side and was the closest within reaching distance, and gripped it as tightly as she could, her hands shaking and her skin pale. Zack looked at her with such love and sorrow and pain in his eyes that it was hard for her to find the emotional strength, let alone physical strength, to say,

‘Zack, you’re one of the best guys I have ever met. You’ve always been there when I needed you. I wish I could have done more for you, more to help with your mom and everything. I just wish that I had more time with you. I don’t think I ever let you know how much you mean to me. Good luck, buddy, and you deserve so much better than all the shit you have got in life. I love you, bro.’ Zack nodded, tears welling and he tightened his grip on Trini’s hand as much as he dared, considering how fragile the girl was at the moment. 

‘Billy,’ she then said softly and he knelt next to Zack so that it would be easier for her to talk to him. ‘I just want to tell you that I think you’re brilliant. If only you weren’t bound to this town you could have changed the world with your intelligence, ideas and inventions. Instead, you’ll have to change the world by being as kind and as caring as you always are. You deserved so more than this. Never let anyone tell you that you aren’t important.’ 

He nodded sorrowfully, trying to hide the tears that were beginning to make their way down his face. It was obvious that not only the Rangers but Trini too seemed surprised by how inspiring she was being. They could all tell that she was trying to tell the Rangers everything that she wanted them to know, everything that she would have conveyed to them slowly and carefully, to make sure they believed it, but her time was cut short and this was the best Trini could do, so they hung onto every word that she managed to get out. 

She then looked to Jason and smiled, though it looked more like a grimace, her teeth and lips stained with blood. He smiled back weakly, looking like he was about to break. Camera lights were flashing but neither of them were paying attention. They weren’t going to let anyone ruin her last words to her friends

‘Jase, you’re a great guy, and a brilliant leader. I shouldn’t have -’ She was cut off by a coughing fit and had to wipe the blood away before she continued, her voice shaky. ‘I never should have treated you the way that I did in the beginning. None of us knew what we were doing but with you in the lead, I knew that you would think of the best course of action. You support the team in such an important way. Thank you for all that you did for me. You’ll never realise how much it all meant to me. Keep leading them, Red.’ 

The smile that she sent him as she finished was bittersweet, but full of caring, conveying all the conflicting feelings she had ended up having for him due to the whole Kim-thing, but the fact that they were friends, the fact that they would do anything for each other, won over everything else.

Being the only one left, Kim knelt down beside her, across from Zack, and began to wipe away some of the blood on Trini’s face and whispered in a tearful voice, ‘Trini, I want you to know I’m sorry for everything that happened. I should have been a better friend to you -’ Before she could finish, Trini coughed out, 

‘No, honestly Kim, you were a great friend. You were,’ She hacked up some more blood before continuing, ‘You were amazing and I meant it when I said that we are good. You’ve been more important to me than I could ever express. I am so grateful for you. All the memories I have with you are very precious and happy, and they all mean a great deal to me, just like you did. Thank you for everything that you did for me, and I’m sorry that I could never repay you’

Tears began to make their way down Kim’s face as she began to realise that she was about to lose her best friend. 

‘All of you are amazing. I love you all. I just wish that we had had more time. Choose a new Ranger, one that is worthy and will protect the world and protect you. Thank you for giving me a family.’ Trini’s voice cracked with emotion and pain as she reached up and pressed her yellow Power Coin into Zack’s trembling hand, her armour slipping away, leaving her with open gashes and wounds as her chest rattled with each painful breath. 

She lay there, in her normal clothes as blood seeped from her body onto the road, and there were even more flashes as people pressed against the barrier around her that the Rangers had created, craning their necks to get a glimpse of the Yellow Ranger, and yelling questions.

Tears were running down all of the Rangers faces as they watched helplessly as, just before her body was left lifeless and limp, Trini turned her face up to the sky as the rain that had been falling all battle began to stop, and the weakest rays of sunlight began to break through the gloomy, heavy clouds. 

A deathly silence seemed to follow Trini’s last rattling breath and the Rangers began to break down, their armour fading away and each of them falling to their knees around her body until they no longer looked like the soldiers that they were, grieving for a fallen fighter, but just a group of young teenagers, crying around their dead friend. 

Eventually, the people surrounding them peeled away, until there was just them left, four friends standing over the one that they had lost, the one they couldn’t save, the one that they could never be complete without. 

\--

The sun came out as Trini died but it only rained as Trini was laid to rest, the weather morbidly appropriate. There wasn’t many people at the church, attending the funeral, and it hurt the Rangers to see how few people were willing to grieve for Trini. the stony faced Rangers, all clad in full black except for a small piece of yellow, their own tribute to their fallen friend. 

Jason wore a yellow silicone wristband, the kind that normally had words printed on it, but his was blank. Just a strip of yellow, standing out from the black like a burst of sunlight during a cloudy day. The whole service, he kept his hands hidden in his pockets or his lap so that no one could see the way that they shook.

Zack had folded a yellow pocket square into his slightly baggy, borrowed suit, the only splash of colour as even his shirt was black. He spent the whole service trying to hold back tears, and the others didn’t say a word when they began to fall from his eyes. 

Billy had chosen a yellow tie, one as close to the shade of Trini’s signature armour and Zord as possible. He appeared to be handling everything the best out of all the Rangers, but if you knew him well enough, you could see that he was sitting too slumped, looked too miserable, and seemed too hopeless and broken to be considered “alright”

Kim’s tribute to Trini was simple and understated. Instead of having her nails painted her usual shade of purple or pink, she had coated them in a bright, sunshine shade of yellow nail polish. 

But that was the only bright thing about her. Her face was empty of her normal make-up and her eyes were red from tears. She had massive shadows under her eyes and it was clear that she hadn’t slept since Trini died. Her shoulders were slumped as if she had the weight of the world placed on her back. 

The service was short and brief, the priest barely knowing what to say about her, just talking about Trini was taken from us too young, and had too much to offer to part so soon. All of this was true, but coming from someone who had barely known Trini, the words seemed empty and meaningless. The entire thing felt fake and impersonal to the Rangers, who were all aching from the loss. It was like having salt rubbed into an already raw wound.

It wasn’t until it was time for the eulogy that things actually seemed to get personal to Trini. Her parents had obviously written one, but the Rangers had asked them if it was alright that they spoke at the service as well, and despite Trini’s mother’s resistance, they eventually got permission to. 

Although that was after Zack had said, in a voice that sounded a lot, almost too much to bear, like Trini’s normally bored and flat tone, that they didn’t care if they got permission, Trini was one of their best friends and they were speaking at the funeral whether her parent’s liked it or not.

They all stood there, looking at the blank faces of the other people at the funeral (and the angry one of Trini’s mom who was sat in one of the front pews along with her husband and sons) and noted the confused expression that some of them were beginning to develop. They hadn’t been able to decide who should write a eulogy between the four of them, so had ended up all making their way up to the front of the church for the speech, and that was a little odd for a funeral. 

Billy stood at the front of the group, cleared his throat and began, 

‘Trini was one of the best people that I ever met. She never pushed me too hard or made me do something that I wasn’t comfortable with. She may have tried to look tough, but underneath all her bravado, she was actually one of the kindest, sweetest people ever. We were all lucky to have her in our lives, even if it wasn’t for as long as we hoped. I can only thank Trini for everything that she did for me, and I know that she would never have wanted some massive service like this,’ 

Here, he chuckled briefly, before continuing, his dark eyes glistening with tears, 

‘Because she never would have thought that she deserved it or would ever receive it. I can’t tell her this now, but I wish that I had made it clear to her that she deserved all the best things in the world,’

Next Kim stepped forward, and she wiped away tears that were already springing forth without her even saying a word. She began, 

‘Trini Gomez was my best friend and one of my favourite people in the world. She meant everything to me and to the three people beside me today. I know that we will all feel her loss every day that we spend without her by our sides. She was loyal and kind and brave and so much greater than I could ever be. I will always hate that my time with her was cut short, and she deserved so much better than to die without doing all the things that she wanted to. I remember, once, she told me about the dream that she had to go to Paris and see the city from the top of the Eiffel Tower. She said that she wanted to see how everything would look if she was tall,’ 

Kim laughed brokenly at that, and wiped away her tears again quickly before saying, 

‘Trini was like a sister to me. If I ever needed her she was only a call away and I knew that she would drop whatever she was going to help me. She knew that I would do the same for her. We didn’t share the same blood but Trini was out sister in every way that mattered, the bond that Jason, Billy, Kim and I shared with her ran deeper than blood. We were a family of our own, one that was always accepting and always there for each other. An important part of that family has been taken away from us. And from that, we will never recover,’ 

Zack’s part of the eulogy was shorter as he knew that he wouldn’t last long before breaking down. 

‘Trini was better than we ever deserved, better than anyone ever gave her credit for. She didn’t deserve most of the crap that she had in her life, but I will always be grateful for the fact that it was that pain that brought her into my life. She was one of the most important parts of my life recently and her absence from it is already noticeable and painful. I honestly can’t think of any stories to tell that would help you realise that she was one of the best people I ever knew and that no one could ever replace or equal her,’

His voice cracking and tears leaking down his face, Zack took a step back and allowed Jason to take his place. 

Jason swallowed deeply and said, his voice clear but thick with emotion, ‘This has already been an untraditional and rather long eulogy and I apologise for the fact that my addition to our goodbye to Trini will make it even longer. As the leader of our group, it has fallen to me to make this part of our speech to say goodbye to Trini, and the reason why I just called myself that should be a bit clearer in a minute for any of you don't already know. It was a few days ago that Angel Grove was attacked for the second time, and I know that many of us suffered due to this attack. It was that day that the Power Rangers appeared for the second time. And it was that day that it was revealed, against our will, that Billy, Zack, Kimberly and I, along with Trini, are the Power Rangers,’ 

Whispers broke out among the gathered mourners, and Jason cleared his throat before continuing.

‘I want to make it clear that although a lot of people blame us for some of the destruction of Angel Grove, our mission was always to protect you. We never meant to bring any harm to anyone except those who threatened us. Trini was the Yellow Ranger,’ Jason’s voice broke a little as he chuckled bitterly, ‘And let me tell you, she was the bravest of us all. We had all vowed to protect one another, to the point where we would sacrifice our lives for our fellow Rangers, as well as for Angel Grove. Trini kept that promise. She died saving my life specifically and her sacrifice saved all of our lives. I will carry that guilt around with me for the rest of my life, that I wasn’t enough to protect one of my best friends. Every one of us feels incomplete without the Yellow Ranger by our sides, but we will not fail our mission. Trini dedicated her life to protecting this town and we will not let you down and we will not let her down. She will be sorely missed as she was the best of us. The hardest worker, the best fighter. We would be lost without her - I mean, we are lost without her. We want it to be known that when we fight, we fight for Trini and we fight for you. Thank you,’ 

At that he stepped away and the rest of the Rangers followed his lead as he walked back to their pew amid chatterings and whispers and stares. 

Following their incredibly long and dramatic eulogy, the funeral goers left the church and went into the graveyard. They all gathered around a six foot hole in the ground with a freshly carved headstone before it. 

‘Here lies Trini. Devoted friend.’ 

It didn’t escape most people’s notice that the headstone held no mention of her last name or her family and many curious glances were thrown towards the Gomez family. Trini’s mom looked furious, glaring at the headstone like Trini had chosen it herself whilst her father just looked defeated and sad, along with her brothers. 

Kim wasn’t ashamed to admit that she felt a spike of happiness break through the overwhelming misery that weighed on her chest to see Trini’s headstone was something that she herself would have liked instead of something her parents would have chosen. After all, it was her that begged her parents for the money for the headstone. She now sent them a grateful smile, as they stood a few rows back in the crowd whilst she and her friends were at the very front. Her parents sent her back a smile that looked shocked and she imagined that they were still getting their head around the fact that their daughter was one of the people who had saved Angel Grove (twice). 

So it was that rainy afternoon that Trini’s coffin was lowered into the freshly dug grave before the gathered mourners, the ebony coffin gleaming under the raindrops that collected on it. 

The Rangers did nothing to hide their grief, each of them looking shattered and wrecked, and once the service was concluded, the four of them walked off together, supporting one another and still a united team despite the glaring absence of a certain girl by their side. 

\--

Her room was dark and gloomy, not even the moonlight getting through her drawn curtains, as Kim’s eyes snapped open, her chest heaving and her body covered in cold sweat. She took a second to realise where she was, to remember that she wasn’t standing in the middle of the streets of Angel Grove, surrounded by debris and destruction, and that Trini wasn’t lying on the ground, clinging on to life. 

Then she remembered. Trini wasn’t lying on the ground, dying, because she was already dead. 

And there was no way to bring her back, no matter how hard they all tried.

She promptly fell apart again, wishing that she could do something to stop the nightmares, to stop the tears, to stop the guilt tearing away at her, making her hate every moment that she spend without Trini by her side. 

Kim remembered how she had felt when Billy died. She had stood, numb, in that spaceship and felt as though someone had torn a hole in her, as though Billy’s absence was a tangible thing, as though she was empty. She had the others and they united but everything felt a little bit darker without Billy.

Trini’s death didn’t make her feel empty inside, it made her feel like every part of her was in constant, agonising pain that wasn’t going to be relieved anytime soon. She didn’t feel like there was a hole in her world, she felt like her entire world was falling down around her ears in flaming pieces. She still had the others, but it was like there was something stopping her from reaching out, from asking them for help, from being there for them like they would be there for her. Kim just couldn’t bring herself to do it and she hated herself for every second that went by without her just talking to them about how she was a mess without Trini.

Kim still hung out with them of course and their grief was visible, the collective sadness almost palpable and tangible in the air. But none of them ever talked about it, about how much they missed their Yellow Ranger, about how nothing felt right anymore, about how every day without Trini was full of misery and sadness. 

That wasn’t to say that they weren’t supporting each other. Zack had texted Kim in distress a couple of times and the two of them now had spent several nights on top of an abandoned train, staring at the stars, wrapped in blankets and with steaming mugs of hot chocolate. 

Billy had asked all three of them to keep him company whilst he worked at different times, explaining to Kim once that Trini had normally been with him in the basement and working alone felt lonelier than ever. She had smiled weakly and told him she was happy to come over anytime. Billy had appeared placated and had returned to working quietly. 

Jason was trying to be the strong guy, the leader, and not show any weakness, but Kim had spotted him in the Pit once, sitting on a boulder, his back to the entrance of the cave, explaining why he hadn’t seen her. He was breaking down, his head in his hands, tears streaming down his face, his cries echoing. Kim hadn’t stayed to see anymore of that, letting him make his grief private. But he had once admitted to the group, during one of their campfires, that the house he had once shared with Trini was colder and emptier than ever. He went into her room sometimes, to keep her stuff devoid of dust, and to immerse himself in memories of a better a time, a time when they were complete, when there wasn’t a Trini-sized hole in the universe that felt wrong and out of place. 

Every time that Kim closed her eyes, every time that she tried to sleep, all she dreamed of was Trini. Most of the time it was of Trini dying, of her stretched out on the pavement, the blood slowly seeping from the holes that the shards of glass and metal had punched in her. It was of her bloody and battered face, growing paler by the second but somehow still able to send a half smile Kim’s way, the teeth and lips covered in sticky blood.

But sometimes, relief came in the form of a good dream about Trini instead of a nightmare. Those dreams were the only reason that Kim even still tried to sleep. She would see Trini in the halls of the school, looking about as enthusiastic and bored as ever, but alive and breathing. Kim would dream that it would just be a normal day, that Lord Zedd never attacked Angel Grove and that the Power Rangers were still whole. 

Those dreams were a relief from the nightmares but they made her feel worse than ever when she woke up with a smile on her face only to realise that Trini wasn’t here, wasn’t safe, wasn’t alive. That it was all just a dream and she couldn’t hold her close and tell her how much she meant to her. That she would never be able to see her again. And then, Kim would fall to pieces all over again. 

Things had only worsened when she had realised that the four remaining Rangers were pretty much immortal now. They wouldn’t age. There would be no college, no career, no future, only Angel Grove and the Ranger team. Before she had become mixed up in all this alien superhero business, Kim had almost left town along with Jason. Now she was imprisoned here, stuck with memories of a dead teammate that she had no way of escaping from. 

Kim was facing an eternity without Trini, without her best friend and fighting partner at her side, with a Trini-shaped hole in her life that would never, ever be filled. Everyone else in her life but Jason, Billy and Zack would die, would move on, would leave her and this shitty town and years, decades, centuries from now, she would still be here, a 17 year old stuck defending a world that had never helped her in the first place. 

If the world was a place that could take Trini away from her, Kim wasn’t sure that it was worth defending. 

She looked down at her hands, still shaking from the dream, and caught sight of the bright yellow polish that still coated her nails, though it was chipped and cracked in several places. In the gloom of her room, Kim got out her nail varnish remover and her bottle of yellow polish. 

By the time she was feeling drowsy enough to slip back into the realm of nightmares and torture that only seemed to hold images of a dying Trini, Kim had a new, flawless, coat of nail varnish on, a quiet but daring tribute to someone that the world would rather forget, but someone that Kim refused to let go of.


End file.
